


They Walk Among Us

by Thingsenjoyed



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alien Invasion, Allura & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Found Family, Humor, Hunk & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, I Am Number Four AU, Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, M/M, Near Death Experiences, SHIDGE, Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, basically bad things happen bingo haha, i wrote this for my own entertainment forgive me if it's bad, its cheesy, klance, pidge has long hair, pidge is a badass no matter what, shiro has white hair
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:34:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 56,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27199249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thingsenjoyed/pseuds/Thingsenjoyed
Summary: Shiro and his friends are on the run, hunting for a normal life while the Galra hunt for them.In her search for her missing family, Pidge gets tangled up in a world she never even knew existed. Little does she know, she's more involved than she thinks.Things are getting dangerous. Are they ready to face the threat coming their way?[ON A BREAK UNTIL I CAN FIGURE OUT THIS STORY AS WELL AS MY LIFE SORRY]Disclaimer: This is based off the I Am Number Four series, although it doesn't follow the storyline exactly and I take it in my own direction, there's still some big spoilers for the actual books. So if you're reading them, or plan to read them, proceed at your own risk.
Relationships: Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Pidge | Katie Holt/Shiro
Comments: 16
Kudos: 13





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> this is written purely for my own entertainment, so i cannot guarantee it will be any good, but i've probably read every fic under the shidge tag at least twice and i need more content.  
> i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i'm enjoying writing it!

There are some people out there that dream of becoming someone new. Wishing to wipe away everything you once were and start again with a clean slate. New name, new home, new identity. Everyone has thought about it at least once - maybe after a particularly bad day where at the end of it all, the only thing that could make it better is to just disappear.

The idea does seem inviting. He remembers the appeal, the excitement that came with picking out a new name, packing everything up and moving someplace new. But that was a long time ago. Now, he doesn't want to disappear. The urge to settle down and stay tugs desperately at his heart while fear does the same to his mind, screaming at him to keep running and never stop. It's like he's being torn apart from the inside out.

Tonight was supposed to be a distraction from his internal battle, and, at one point, a part of him had begun to let loose for the first time in weeks. The smile that tugs at his lips feels unnatural. He can't remember the last time he'd allowed himself to relax and enjoy a moment while he was still in it. But, like everything else, the fun had to come to an end.

The not so little get together thrown by some students from another university gets cut short when an excruciating pain burns it's way into his calf, lighting up the sand around him like a flashlight had been flicked on inside his body. A scream escapes his mouth before he could even think about not drawing any more attention to himself. But there was no getting out of this one. The damage has already been done.

He falls to the ground, grasping for his glowing scar to both smother the light and control the pain. The attempt manages to fix neither.

_Keep it together._

With a grunt, he stands, keeping his weight on the leg without pain pulsing through it with every second. Not that it helps. The other students around him are watching him. Some scream, some run, and some can only stare. The boy looks frantically around, spotting his friends in the distance in the same situation as he. Although two are making their way towards him, holding each other up, while the other still clutches his leg in the sand. He hobbles his way towards the latter as fast as possible, and although the boy can't see his eyes through the raven hair, the tear tracks on his cheeks reveal not only the pain of the scar, but the pain of another loss.

The boy can barely find the strength to hoist the other up by the arm and throw it around his shoulders. All four of them run - or try to, at least - to their truck in the parking lot lining the beach. They find no trouble in getting straight there, as nobody dares to go near them in their pursuit of escape.

It must've been strange - he can't think of another word to describe it - to see a group of four boys fall simultaneously to the ground, crying out as their legs shined brightly against the dark of the night. It all happened out of nowhere, and ended so quickly you might have missed it if you'd been anywhere else in the moment. What would they say tomorrow? The next day? What will they think when said boys drop off the face of the earth?

That's what the boy thinks about on the drive. To where? They don't know yet.

What they do know, is that there is one less of them to fight the evils that lurk in the shadows when the time comes - which it _will_ come.

But for now, they start anew. New name. New home. New identity.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys find a new place to live and meet a strange girl in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm worried about posting this so soon cause i'm afraid i'm gonna wanna change stuff in the future but whatever i'm just going for it

"I got it! What about _Seth_?"

A frustrated groan sounds from the backseat, "No."

Lance throws his arms up in defeat, "That was my last good idea, so you're gonna have to think of one yourself."

" _Good_ idea? Every idea you've had sucks!"

"What? No they haven't!"

"Seth, Lance? _Donald_? _Really_? Is that what I look like to you?"

"Well, I might just have to start calling you Ungrateful from now on if this is how you act when I try to help." Lance pouts, crossing his arms.

Shiro can sense a fight about to happen - something he's become quite good at when it comes to these two - and quickly speaks up to break the tension.

"What about Keith?"

He sneaks a peek in the rearview mirror to catch his reaction before returning his eyes to the road, a slight smile on his face.

After a minute of consideration, he responds, "I like it."

Lance leans up in his seat, nudging the boy in the passenger seat, "What about you, Buddy?"

"I'm thinking.... Hunk."

"Hunk it is!" Lance whoops. His excitement is contagious.

Shiro considers himself lucky to have him here, to have all of them here. The thought of going through this time and time again alone - well, he tries not to think about it. But it's times like these, long drives, telling fake backstories that can have them laughing to tears, that make the whole thing worth it. All he can do is hope that one day the running and the fighting would come to an end, and they would finally get to return home.

He glances down at the new scar on his leg, it's the third. If not for him, he would do it for them. The ones who died without ever knowing what it would be like to go back. He didn't know them. There's a different kind of sadness that comes from the death of someone you didn't know, but could have. And the 'what if questions' that follow are no help at all. He can't help but wonder whether this connection he has with the others of his species is a blessing or a curse.

But he decides not to dwell on that for too long, opting to tune in to Lance's newest, crazy backstory.

"'Don't leave,' she pleaded with me. But I couldn't stay. After all, Lance McClain, the baddest bad boy in all the Midwest, had more important matters to attend to. The president had been kidnapped, and it was up to him to save him, and therefore, the country." Lance places his fists on his hips and puffs out his chest like some sort of superhero.

Keith scoffs, "Nobody's gonna believe that."

"Oh yeah? What's your story, Mullet?" Lance challenges, trying out his latest nickname.

"I knew I was gonna regret this haircut..." Keith mumbles. "If anyone asks I'm just saying I met you guys in high school, we decided to travel together, and now we're settling down for a year or so to make some money. I don't know."

"Booooring."

Keith punches Lance's arm, "It may be boring but at least it's more believable than that 'saving the president' shit. It's like you're trying to get us caught."

From the rearview mirror Shiro can see a hurt expression on Lance's face. Keith immediately looks guilty, but doesn't say anything, and a heavy silence falls upon the van. He can't say he's surprised by the turn of events, as it tends to happen every so often, but he still finds himself racking his brain for something to say.

Relief washes over him when Hunk decides to change the subject, "So, where're we headed next, Shiro?"

"I was thinking Arizona."

"What's in Arizona?" Keith asks, leaning around the seat until his head is between Hunk and him, staring at the map up against the dashboard. It's the same old, crumpled up map they'd had from the beginning, and ever since they'd circled and marked their journey throughout the years. It's not exactly necessary, but sometimes it helps them feel like it actually is just one big road trip, and that there isn't another alien race trying to track their every move.

"There's a university there called the Galaxy Garrison. I thought maybe we could try - I don't know - doing something normal with our lives for while?" He doesn't mention the employee there that he'd come across online and immediately recognized. He can't remember how but Shiro knows he's seen this man before, and if he has the chance to get a better look, he knows better than to pass that up. Being so in the dark about his past and who he is, Shiro has learned to trust his instincts better than anything else. He wants answers, and his instincts are telling him this man has some.

"You mean you want us to go to school?" Lance groans.

Keith grunts, "I know it sounds crazy, but I'm actually with Lance on this one. Wouldn't that be more dangerous? Being out in the open like that?"

"'Along with being a school, the Garrison is actually a military organization. There's a lot of high tech equipment and a lot of information they'd rather not get out."

"Meaning there's a lot of security." Hunk adds.

"Exactly. Nobody's getting in if they don't know who you are. I figured if we'd be safe anywhere, it would be at a secure military base in the middle of the desert that specializes in keeping out hostile aliens."

Keith leans back, "Arizona it is then."

* * *

They drive for three days, stopping each night at a cheap, dingy motel to stretch their legs and allow Hunk some time to come up with their required documents. Birth certificates, IDs, student transcripts. He even went as far as to print off acceptance letters from the Garrison to further prove their admittance. According to Hunk, they should have no problem getting into the university on their first day. Shiro had been a bit unnerved at the thought of joining after the semester had already begun, which would no doubt bring a lot of attention to them, but they'd managed to come up with a (hopefully) convincing excuse.

The story is simple. The four of them are exchange students who had won a contest through some random charity that nobody would question, their prizes being a full ride scholarship to the Garrison foreign exchange program (which Hunk had conveniently put through the schools systems so if anyone were to question them, the program did, in fact, exist now).

So, on day four, they gather up what little belongings they have and drive the rest of the way to the esteemed Galaxy Garrison. It's huge, that much is for sure, fighter jets flying above them, advanced Garrison vehicles crossing the rocky desert terrain. There's something about the architecture that looks vaguely familiar to him, but when he brings it up the others just shrug.

"Who cares about the architecture? Let's go!" Lance hops out of the van before Shiro can even fully finish parking. They make their way to the front doors of the building and head inside. So far so good. The entrance is designed for anyone entering the building to go through the main office, and the rest of the building is closed off by a set of doors behind the front desk requiring a Garrison issued ID to get through. The main office is a large room with four secretaries behind the long counter, all typing away at their computers, only pausing when a short chime sounds as they enter through the glass door.

"We don't have any deliveries scheduled for today." One says with only a quick glance at the boys, probably assuming the boxes they carried in were not their personal belongings but some sort of delivery.

"Uh, actually. We're not here to deliver anything. We're apart of the foreign exchange program, we move in today." Shiro approaches the women, placing his hands on the counter separating them.

The first one, Shiro can now see her nametag reads 'Olia', not so subtly checks out his prosthetic arm before meeting his eyes, "We don't have a foreign exchange program."

Shiro furrows his eyebrows, feigning confusion, "I can show you my student ID, as well as several emails saying we've been accepted here."

She smirks, disbelief in her eyes, "Sounds like you might've been scammed, to me." She holds out her hand, "Let me see."

He tries to keep down a smirk of his own as he pulls out his ID, the words 'Galaxy Garrison' are printed on it to look like an authentic student ID. The secretaries eyes widen when she sees it, meaning Hunk did his job well. She swivels in her chair towards the desktop computer, singlehandedly entering the number on the card. He doesn't even have to peek around to know he'd been pulled up on the computer, another indication of Hunks success.

She still looks skeptical, and Shiro begins to worry their plan may not work. But just as she's about to speak, Lance begins to sniffle - quite loudly. Tears form in his eyes and, voice impressively shaky, he says, "Are we not gonna be able to go here anymore? Be - Because my country doesn't have opportunities like this a - and my mom was so excited and I moved all the way here and - " He erupts in a chorus of sobs and sniffles. Keith even goes as far as to put an arm around his shoulders.

"Uh -"

"I can't go back there!" Lance cries, slamming his hands on the desk, "We threw a party when I got the acceptance letter. Are you gonna make me go back in _shame_?"

"N - No. I'm very sorry for the confusion. I'll print your schedules and other documentation off. Give me just a moment. Feel free to take a seat." Olia rambles, looking hastily through her papers. Lance lets out a couple more sobs to rub it in before turning towards the waiting room chairs, a smirk on his face. Shiro does everything in his power to keep a smile off his face. He knew Lance had it in him to put on such a performance, but he would never get used to seeing it in action. He can tell Hunk and Keith feel the same from the slightly stunned looks in their eyes.

Just then, after settling down in their seats, surrounded by boxes of their things, they hear yelling coming from a room to their right. It's a mans voice, angry and accusing. Shiro can't tell what he's saying. Another voice joins in, cutting off the other. It's younger, a girl, and she's just as angry. He can tell when they start approaching the door because they get louder and their words grow clearer, only slightly muffled.

"I'll be keeping a close eye on you from now on."

"Careful, it's your last one. It'd be a shame if something were to happen to it."

"This is your _last_ chance, Holt. If I catch you even _looking_ at one of the Garrison's computers from across the room you're done."

"You know something, Iverson, and I'm gonna find out what!"

The door slides open to reveal a man and a short girl. The guy practically radiates authority in his grey uniform. His posture looks uncomfortably stiff, and his expression is contorted to match it. He only has one eye, and Shiro can't help but wonder what the story behind it is.

But the girl is what really interests Shiro. She storms out of the room, the door sliding closed behind her. She's small - abnormally so, but she has a strong 'don't mess with me' energy coming off her fuming figure. It's almost amusing, really, they way she crosses her arms and stomps across the room. She has long, light brown hair, but what's really striking about her is her eyes, which make contact with his as she passes. It only lasts a second, but he finds himself captivated anyway in her golden brown eyes that are full of fury and secrets.

"Oh, Katie!" Olia shouts after her before she can walk through the glass doors behind the desk. Shiro shakes his head.

The girl - Katie - sighs before turning around, "Yeah?"

"Would you mind showing these boys to their rooms, please?" Olia asks, although it sounds less like a request and more of an order, and judging by the way Katie's fists clench up at her sides, it obviously got under her skin. But she responds with one of the most forced looking smiles he's ever seen.

"Of course!" And she waits all of five seconds before turning on her heel and walking away.

Shiro, Lance, Hunk, and Keith rush to gather up their things, snatching their schedules from Olia's hand before rushing out the open door and jogging to keep up with their guide.

Shiro can feel his shoulders relax the second he passes through the door. They were officially a part of the Garrison now. All they had to do now was lay low, and do their best to not draw attention to themselves. He already starts forming a speech in his head to give to the others - a little tradition they despise, but Shiro deems absolutely necessary for every new location they end up at.

Katie had taken Shiros documents from him and flips through, searching for their dorm numbers, but she pauses every once in a while, and he wonders if it might've been a mistake to give her his information right off the bat.

"Foreign Exchange Program, huh? I didn't know we had one of those here." She mumbles, mostly to herself.

"Yeah, it's pretty new. I think this is the first year they're offering it, actually." Shiro responds. She glances back at him, almost as if she'd forgotten she was being followed. She looks over him, slowly, and her gaze sends unwelcome shivers down his spine. She doesn't trust them, he can tell that much, but it feels as if she's looking straight through him and already knows every secret he's ever kept. He's not used to that, being as closed off as he is towards anyone other than Lance, Keith, and Hunk, and he comes to the conclusion that she can and will figure out who he really is if he doesn't stay far, far away from her.

Something tells him it won't be as easy as he hopes.

"What's with the arm?" She asks, deadpan.

Before Shiro can get over thee bluntness of her question, Keith shoves his way up to his side, just as he does any other time someone decides to bring up what they don't know is a sensitive subject.

"What's with the getting into arguments with your professors?" He spits out. The conversation could've been passed off as light banter if his retort didn't sound so defensive. But it seems to shut her up for the time being, and Shiro passes Keith a grateful smile before willing his heart to stop beating so fast. He chides himself on getting so worked up over a simple question.

The tension goes from bearable to downright awkward for a minute or two until Katie swipes her ID and enters through a set of doors into a room the size of three football fields. A line of jets lie just to their right, and people pay them no mind as they focus on their tasks at hand. Some shuffle back and forth, piles of binders and loose pages in their arms, while others hang upside down from the underside of the mechanisms, grease evident on their faces and tools in their hands. It's noisy, clangs and engines and voices echoing throughout the room, and although Shiro would normally be worried in such a crowed area, he can sense nothing out of the ordinary. For once, fear doesn't control his every move, and wonderment takes its place.

The others also look around the room in awe, the awkwardness since faded long behind them. A slight look of pride takes over Katie's features for a moment when she notices their reaction. He doesn't blame her for being proud even just to go here. Every student here probably had to be insanely smart to even be considered to attend college in a place like this.

"Pidge! Come over here for a second!" A voice yells from across the room. Nobody else pays any mind to the call, and Shiro begins to wonder who Pidge is until Katie perks up, scurrying over to the source of the voice. He doesn't know what he expected when someone called out to her, but it certainly wasn't an older man with bright orange hair and a mustache to match it.

"Ten bucks says this old man is her only friend here." Lance whispers between the four of them. Keith chuckles and Shiro's tempted to scold them for being rude when he actually begins to consider is Lance has a point. For what little time they've known her she's already gotten in trouble and shown that she may not have any sort of a filter. Who's to say she's not an outcast in this school?

They follow behind her, capturing the attention of the man, who looks surprised to see Katie accompanied by four guys carrying multiple boxes. Anyone else might've been worn out after carrying so much for as long as they have, but inhuman strength they'd inherited from their planet definitely had it's perks, cause Katie didn't seem all too worried about making a short detour anyway.

"Ah! Who are your friends?" The man chimes in an accent that sounds vaguely Scottish, excited at the thought of Katie actually having friends.

Katie looks over at them with a sheepish grin, a tint of red making it's way onto her cheeks.

The man makes a noise that sounds like a mix between a scoff and a sneeze, "Don't tell me you didn't ask them their names."

She just shrugs, earning herself a soft look of disappointment and maybe even a little pity from the older man. They seem to have a silent conversation for a solid thirty seconds before she sighs, rolls her eyes, and sticks out her hand, "I'm Katie, as I'm sure you already know, but you can call me Pidge... If you'd like." She never makes eye contact, but Shiro sets down his boxes and holds out his left - human hand, forcing her to switch. A part of him can't help but feel a little smug, like not letting her touch his hand is some sort of payback for her question earlier.

"I'm Shiro."

The others quickly introduce themselves before the orange haired man steps around the desk and offers his hand to them as well. "The names Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe. But you can call me Coran. I'm a professor here at the Garrison. I teach a very interesting class on extraterrestrial life. I'd be pleased to see you there."

"It's nice to meet you, Coran."

"Come look! I have something incredible to show you all."

They all gather around the microscope on the desk, taking turns looking through the scope.

"What you're seeing there are teeny tiny microorganisms in an ice sample taken from Kerberos."

Pidge's head shoots up, "That's amazing!" Her and Coran ramble on and on about the sample. Her excitement at such a small discovery is amusing to him, as he himself knows of the bigger, much more interesting lifeforms to be found in the universe. Although some he'd wished he'd never gotten to know so... Personally. But he remembers learning long ago before being sent off here that Earth was much further behind his home planet of Altea, and many other planets he'd familiarized himself with, so it's of no surprise to him that a microorganism is such a big thing to a human.

"Well then, there you go. Your first contact with alien life." Coran pats her on the shoulder encouragingly.

_If only they knew._

Shiro chuckles at the thought, though he regrets it immediately when the smile disappears off Pidge's face and embarrassment takes its place. She looks down, as if ashamed of herself for showing her excitement to other people.

"Thanks, Coran. But we should get going." She walks off, back to the cold, impolite girl they'd first seen earlier. Shiro tries not to feel guilty for making her embarrassed to display that other side of her.

He doesn't get the chance to read the look Coran is giving them before it's gone, replaced with a friendly smile, "It was nice meeting you boys, feel free to come speak with me anytime."

The way he said it sounded like there was some double meaning to his words, but Shiro decides not to dwell on it, shooting Coran and smile of his own before heading off after Pidge and his friends.

It's about another five minutes before they reach the residence halls and, eventually, their rooms.

"Your IDs should give you access to your rooms, as well as the bathrooms, cafeteria, gym, you know. You're required to be in your own room by eight, or else you get written up. Aaand that's about it."

Hunk grins at her, "Thanks, Pidge."

"Um. Yeah. Welcome to the Garrison. I guess I'll see you around." And just like that, she's disappearing around a corner, and they're alone.

"Pidge was... Odd." Lance states, throwing himself onto the bottom bunk in Shiro and Keith's room. They'd spent around an hour after Pidge had left unpacking their things, Hunk and Lance joining them in their room once they were done per Shiro's request to discuss their plan for their stay at the Garrison, however long it may last.

Keith grunts, "Who just goes around asking people about their prosthetic arms?" He rants, shoving another T-shirt in his closet.

"Maybe she was just interested? She seemed like the curious type." Hunk adds from his spot at the end of the bed.

"Curious or not, she doesn't even know us and she's blurting out personal questions. Seems pretty rude to me."

Lance scoffs, "Says you. You're like the king of rude."

Keith rolls his eyes, "What do you think, Shiro? You haven't said anything about it and it's your arm."

Shiro puts his last box aside, "It doesn't matter. We need to talk about our plan."

Lance groans into a pillow, "Here we go again."

"I think it might be time we start our training."

This grabs their attention.

"You think so? We haven't even been able to open our chests yet." Hunk says, and they all instinctively look to the corner where their chests are. They're made of a smooth white metal that can only be found on Altea, and each are carved with an intricate design unique to each of them. Shiro's design is in black, Lances blue, Keiths Red, and Hunks yellow. None of them have locks on them, sealed tight until 'the time is right'. A saying that is vague enough to only result in frustration and confusion. Looking at these never fails to make them realize how little they really know about themselves and their past.

"At this point, who knows if they'll ever open. We need to be prepared for whatever comes our way, with or without them. I have a feeling we should be developing our powers soon as well."

Keith nods, "Yeah, I've felt that too."

Lance jumps off the bed, putting his arms up in a fighting stance, "Hell yeah! I can't wait to see what my first one's gonna be!"

"It's not a game, Lance." Keith crosses his arms, and Lance uses this as an opportunity to pull him into a headlock.

"Obviously, but that doesn't mean I can't be excited."

Keith swipes his foot under Lance's, knocking him off his feet. Lance's grip is tight enough to take Keith down with him, who quickly scrambles away from his position over Lance, a blush creeping its way up his neck.

Shiro decides its best to ignore it, not wanting to stir anything up, "Our schedules are mostly the same, but there's certain times of the day where one of us might be alone. If anything were to happen during one of those times, just get out of sight, and call one of the others and we'll drop anything we're doing to get to you. Got it?"

The guys nod.

Shiro smiles, "Alright, then. As Pidge said. Welcome to the Garrison."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading :))


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge takes shit from no one.

It was a strange day, to say the least. But not her strangest, if that was even the right word. Lately, her days were painfully normal, on the outside at least. After... everything that happened she'd only been allowed a couple days off from her regular schedule, expected to return and continue on as if nothing had happened. The only thing that had changed was the looks of pity and sorrow from her professors and just about everyone around the Garrison. Word spread fast, that's for sure. But on the inside, her mind was on full blast, twenty four seven, like a fan in the winter blowing all the cold, dark thoughts to the front of her brain. Gone were the days of silly conspiracies, real life mysteries taking their place in her head.

So it had been a strange day, not her strangest, but she welcomed the distraction. It's not every day four pretty men decide to walk into her school and start the semester a month late. It's certainly not every day that said guys witnessed her almost getting kicked out of school. She'd replayed all the events enough times to conclude that avoiding them at all costs would be the best bet in saving herself from further embarrassment.

She considered herself lucky that they hadn't stopped by the cafeteria for dinner that night, or for breakfast and lunch the next day. She'd begun to assume they'd gotten lost and maybe even given up and just left the school for good, but her luck didn't last - it never does - and just as she was settling in for dinner that evening at a table against the outer edge of the room, they'd arrived.

Pidge sighs, returning her gaze to the textbook in front of her with no real intention of reading it. She scolds herself for acting this way, and maybe it's because Shiro was quite possibly the most beautiful man she'd ever laid eyes on (who knew a head of white hair and a prosthetic arm would be the thing to catch her eye), but she can't remember the last time she cared about what another person thought. It was downright stupid, and she's supposed to be a genius.

Minutes pass with her debating on whether she wanted them to sit with her or not, assuming they would even want to, and the chances of that are low. From the corner of her eye she can see they'd already gotten their food and now scan the area for a place to sit. Her heart beats a little faster at the thought of looking over, making eye contact, and waving them over. Maybe this was it, her shot at actually having friends. She could apologize for the arm thing and -

"Hey! New guys, over here!"

Leave it to Pidge to miss an opportunity due to her overthinking. But it wasn't that that bothered her, not only that, at least. It was who called them over. A voice she would recognize from anywhere, and that just so happened to be sitting a couple empty tables behind her.

Rolo. Her ex boyfriend and current worst enemy. Well, alongside Nyma and Iverson and Olia. And almost all her professors in the Garrison. Let's just say Pidge has more enemies than friends. Which is incredibly easy when your friend count is zero.

"What's up, newbies? Come on, don't be shy, take a seat. The names Rolo, this is my girl, Nyma, and these are the bros Alex, Parker, and Wyatt."

She can hear the scrape of their chairs against the floor, and that's when she decides her chances for anything past acquaintanceship with them have sunk well below likely. Rolo would no doubt tell them all about the nasty things she'd done to him when they were together, which would, of course, be lies. In fact it was him who'd cheated on her when things got hard and when she needed him the most. It was him who'd broken her heart. Not the other way around. And within a week, he'd gone from begging her to take him back to hating her relentlessly.

She listens to them introduce themselves. They bring up the foreign exchange program again - something she'd have to remind herself to look into later on - and ask questions about the Garrison. Lance is by far the most talkative of the four, and Hunk isn't far behind once he gets comfortable. Shiro chimes in occasionally while Keith just responds with a couple words if directly prompted.

"You guys are gonna fit in well here," Rolo declares, "I can't wait to introduce you to the guys on my flight sim team. If you look over there, one of em is by the window. Real cool guy." He proceeds to give them a rundown of the other students currently in the cafeteria like they're in some silly high school movie and not an actual college in real life. And either somebody has seated themselves between them to perfectly block her from their vision, or Rolo conveniently leaves her out, and for once she can't help but feel a little grateful for his resentment.

"And that's all you need to know in making it in the Garrison." He says, as if he'd shared valuable information and not just gossip on everyone in the room.

"What about her?"

It takes every ounce of Pidge's self control to not tense up at Shiro's question and continue flipping through her textbook pages as if she wasn't listening in to their conversation. But she'd be lying if she said she didn't lean back just a little bit, eager to hear what he has to say.

"Pidge?" The disgust in his tone is clear, "She's a freak. All there is to it." Rolo and his friends burst out laughing.

"Yeah, but like, what's her deal?" Keith asks through their fit of laughter.

"Oh, you want the _story_?"

"There's a story?" asks Lance.

"Oh yeah. She got in here when she was like, sixteen, man. Been here two years. Some people think she's some sort of genius, but I think it's just cause her dad worked here. Gotta be some sort of miracle she's even still here. Her dad and her brother, who also went to school here died about a month ago in a shuttle accident. Kind of a shame cause they were actually pretty chill. But she's like, dead set on them being alive. Went kinda crazy afterwards with all this alien conspiracy shit, not that she wasn't crazy beforehand." The table erupts into fits of laughter yet again.

Pidge only then realizes that her fists had been clenched rather hard, relaxing her hands to see four red marks on each of her hands, one of which is bleeding. She blinks away the tears that had begun to form in her eyes, refusing to let Rolos stupid lie get to her.

Except it wasn't a lie, not all of it anyway. And maybe she was crazy for believing her family could still be alive. Either way, she's done listening to this crap. Pidge closes her textbook, holding it in the crook of her arm as she cleans up her uneaten plate of food and is about to stand when she hears a laugh and, "Hey, watch this."

Not five seconds later does she feel a meatball hit the back of her neck, leaving a trail of sauce own her shirt and in her hair before it hits the floor with a splat. Another round of cackles fills her ears.

_This is it. This is the day I get expelled._

And she sure as hell is going to make it worth her while.

She slams her textbook down on the table as she stands, loud enough to gather the attention of the entire dining hall. It's completely quiet for a solid two seconds before the whispers start and she makes her way over to the table, grabbing a random guys plate of spaghetti.

All eyes are on her now, but the only ones she meets are Shiro's for a second before she looks to Rolo, who's too busy laughing to stop her from dumping the messy plate of food directly onto his head. Once emptied, she drops the empty plate onto his lap for good measure.

He's fuming now, and she knows she should probably be scared, but a noodle hangs off his nose in such a funny way and a laugh escapes her lips.

Pidge shakes her head, feigning disappointment, "You always seem to forget the part where you _dated_ this freak. Doesn't that make you at least a _little_ bit crazy yourself?"

"Not if I broke up with you." Somebody makes an 'ooh' noise from behind her. She's too smug to leave at this point. There's more to say.

"Actually, if I remember correctly, you cheated on me and _I_ broke up with _you_. What was it you said again? 'Please, Katie. Please take me back, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me.'" She juts out her lower lip, "Tell me, if you're not crazy, then does that make you pathetic or just a straight up asshole?"

The crowd begins to laugh, even Lance, Shiro, Keith, and Hunk try to hold back their snickers. She turns around with the intention to leave when, in one quick motion, Rolo grabs her arm, hard. He whips her around, fury blazing in his eyes and as much as she wants to cry out she maintains her glare. The seconds feel like minutes as his grip tightens. She doesn't know much longer she can continue this little stare off between them. Pidge is so focused on not breaking eye contact with Rolo to notice Shiro until he steps in front of her, wrapping his own - prosthetic hand - around Rolo's arm.

"Let. Go." His voice is surprisingly calm, yet powerful and Rolo hesitates before loosening his grip on her.

"You're gonna regret that, newbie." He sneers.

Shiro smirks, "I don't think I will." When he turns around to check on the state of the girl that started it all, she's already gone. The only indication of her presence being the sound of the cafeteria door echoing throughout the silent room. He looks from the door to his friends, Hunk giving him a nod, and that's all he needs before he follows after her, taking her textbook on the way out.

She rounds a corner into an empty hallway, leaning against the wall to slow her beating heart. She's put up with bullies all her life, but never has she stood up to one. A little bit of pride blossoms inside her.

Her wrist throbs, a bruise already forming on her pale skin. She runs her fingertips lightly across it.

"Are you okay?"

Her head whips to the side to see Shiro towering over her, textbook in hand. She can't decide whether to be relieved or apprehensive at his presence, though when she notices the look of concern on his features, she allows herself to unwind a little.

"Um. Yeah. I'm good." She quickly puts her arm behind her, hoping he wouldn't notice.

He does, holding out his hand. "Let me see."

She hesitates, placing her small hand in his large one. The difference is almost laughable.

"You probably think I'm even more of a weirdo now, right?"

He meets her eyes, a slight smirk on his lips, "Maybe a little. But who ever said that was a bad thing?"

"Only like, every single person in the history of ever?"

He chuckles softly, a melodic sound, " _I_ don't think it's a bad thing."

Her smile disappears and she takes her hand back, crossing her arms, "You shouldn't have done that."

"I wasn't just gonna let him get away with that."

"It doesn't matter. Rolo's gonna be on your ass now and do whatever he can to get you in trouble. You got the potential to do something good here. I don't want you to end up feeling like you made a mistake." She gently takes her book from his hand, careful not to touch the metal out of respect for him, and takes a step backwards, hugging the book to her chest.

He shoves his hands in his pockets, "Stopping him from hurting you was not a mistake. Trust me, I'm not afraid of Rolo." He takes a step towards her, "And you don't have to be, either. Not when I'm around." What she doesn't know is that he's not _just_ talking about her ex boyfriend.

She smirks, "Pfft. I don't need your _protection_."

"I never said you did. But what kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't offer it?"

She rolls her eyes, "Oh my god... You act like I'm in actual danger or something."

He doesn't answer, instead gazing down at her with a hint of a smile on his lips and she can't decide whether she could stand there forever, or if she needed to get out of there as fast as possible so she can finally breathe again. She settles on the latter.

"Um - Thanks... for this." She gestures towards the book in her hand, walking backwards.

"See you around?"

"Maybe." And she takes one last look at him standing there, hands in his pockets, before turning around and rounding the corner.

Pidge is so focused on wiping the stupid grin off her face and had intended to head towards her dorm, but her feet carry her in another direction, and she soon finds herself in front of another door. Her fingers graze the name on the plaque beside it.

_Samuel Holt_

She digs through her pockets, coming up with an ID, though it isn't hers. She swipes it, the door clicking and sliding open to reveal her fathers office. The shelves are full of books, she remembers him complaining about it, the stacks on the floor growing higher and higher each day. Photos of her and her brother line the walls, from children to now, a purple dress that she's all to familiar with making an appearance in over half. It'd been her favorite, and even now she'd prefer it over the white and orange Garrison uniform they force everyone to wear.

Her eyes skim over the photos, landing on a particular one where she and Matt are squished between their parents, goofy smiles on their faces. Sam and Matt are the only two looking at the camera, as if they're staring right back at her. She doesn't know how long she stands there before the world becomes blurry with tears and she has to look away. The leather armchair in the corner sounds more intriguing than leaving and doing homework - her textbook already tossed haphazardly onto the desk - so she slides a blanket used for a long history of all nighters in the office around her shoulders and curls up in the seat.

The regular thoughts of Sam and Matt and conspiracies and anger that usually take over her head before sleep are quiet this afternoon, hidden by her rather childish replaying of her hand in Shiros and the way concern graced his features as if some part of him actually cared about her well being. She reminds herself that she's doing a terrible job at keeping him away - after all, Iversons star student Rolo would no doubt give him a hard time for showing any sort of interest in her. But now she allows herself the happy thought that maybe, just maybe, she isn't as much of a lost cause as she thinks.

Yeah, it was a pretty strange day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love pidge she's amazing


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something happens to Keith.  
> Then there's THE bonding moment.  
> ;)

Another wave of heat runs through his body and he lays his head down on the dining table to feel the cold surface against his cheek. The relief doesn't last long, and with a groan he props his elbows up to hold his heavy head up to stare at his uneaten food, the thought of which makes him want to vomit.

"Keith, your vibe is killing off my appetite and I'm going to have to ask you to fix it." Lance says, shoving a fry in his mouth.

Keith glares at him from across the table, "Fix yourself," He mutters, too exhausted to think up a decent comeback.

"Wow. Don't get me wrong, your insults are always bad, but this was just downright disappointing. There really is something wrong with him."

"Give him a break, Lance." Shiro places a hand on Keith's shoulder, "You know you can always go back to the room and rest, I'm sure you can catch up in your classes once you're feeling better." His comforting tone did make the idea seem appealing, burying his face in a pillow, but the thought of spending the day alone in bed with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company sounded even less appealing. So if he was going to suffer through the day, so be it.

"I'm fine," He says, convincing no one.

"Dude, you're a walking space heater."

"Thanks, Hunk."

"Okay, Hunk. You grab him, I knock him out with this tray, we carry him back to his room, and boom. He's good as new." Lance acts out his plan using some of his fries as props.

"I like the way you think." He plucks the fry used to play Keith from Lance's set, popping it in his mouth.

"Nope. Not doing that." Shiro interrupts, "Are you sure you don't wanna go back?"

He can only nod in response.

By the time they have to start heading for class, all of Keith's effort in convincing himself that he may feel a tiny bit better goes down the drain the second he stands. Shiro helps steady him but he nudges him off, muttering a quick 'thanks' to Hunk for taking his plate before heading off to class.

Turns out he'd ended up in Coran's class after all. Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life sounded interesting enough, as if he wasn't an extraterrestrial himself, but he had taken an interest in cryptids and conspiracies at some point on Earth, and he'd be surprised if this course wasn't basically that.

He takes a deep breath outside the door, forcing himself to stand up straight and walk in with little to no staggering. It feels like forever when he finally finds a seat near the back of the lecture hall, hoping nobody decides today is the day to try to be his friend. Considering the other students paid him no mind the past week he's been attending, he wasn't too concerned about that happening today.

Until the universe just had to prove him wrong.

Rolo comes sauntering in about a minute too late, receiving a raised eyebrow from Coran before heading towards the back, directly behind where Keith is sitting. The hall is by no means full with plenty of empty clusters of seats that Rolo could've taken, but no. He _had_ to sit behind Keith on the one day he didn't want him to. Not that he ever wanted him to after seeing how he treated Pidge, but today he _really_ didn't want him to.

"Alrighty. Today we'll be watching a film to relax from the quiz yesterday. I know that took a lot out of you so I've decided to reward you for all your hard work." Coran messes with the projector at the front. Keith lets out a sigh of relief, maybe he can sneak a short nap in.

"God, they were right when they said this class was a joke."

He jerks to the side. Rolo has since leaned forward in his chair far enough to rest his arms on the one to Keith's left. He looks at him as if he expects an answer, and Keith is too sick and caught off guard to remember to ignore him.

"Who?"

Rolo chuckles as if it should be obvious, "Everyone who's taken this class. That quiz was five multiple choice questions. Heh. Easy A."

"Why are you talking to me?" The lights go off in the room, the only light coming from an old, black and white film now showing on the projector.

He laughs again, quieter this time, "Look, I just wanted to say I feel bad about the way things went down at lunch the other day and I wanted you to know there's no hard feelings," He says, sounding as if Keith is lucky to be offered a second chance like he did something wrong in the first place.

If anyone's lucky its Rolo. If Keith had been in any better condition than he is now he would not have hesitated to argue, but his head seems to pound even harder than before, and he's so hot he's surprised his insides aren't boiling.

"Dude, are you okay?"

"Just leave me alone." Keith manages to stutter out.

Rolo lays a hand on his arm, jerking back as if he'd been burned, which he actually might have.

"Ow! Dude, you're burning up."

Just then, a harsh light shines in his eyes, at first he thinks it comes from the movie, but it doesn't take long to realize the light emits from his hands. He gasps, shoving his hands together and hugging them close to himself to smother the light, but Rolo's looking right at him, and there's not much he can do.

The skin on his hands feels like it's on fire and it takes everything in him not to cry out in pain. He wishes Shiro were here. Or Hunk. Even Lance. But he's alone and Rolo is firing off questions that sound more muffled than anything. The lights flickering from him begin to draw some attention, and he can hear Coran saying something but, again, he can't concentrate on his words. The pain is too great.

Keith stands abruptly, weaving his way through the seats and rushing through the back door.

From one of the middle rows, Pidge sits, stunned. When she looks to where Keith was sitting she finds Rolo. And for the first time in weeks their eyes are not met with a glare.

Keith sprints down the hall. His lights are less noticeable under the fluorescent lit hallway, but his running draws attention from professors, who yell at him to slow down. He turns the corner, running smack into a man with one eye, who he vaguely remembers as Iverson from his arrival.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Keith, breathing hard, sputters a brief 'sorry' before stepping around him and continuing his escape. He's still not used to the halls of the Garrison, and quickly becomes lost. He slows to a stop, coming across a janitors closet and thanking whatever's out there that it's not locked.

He shoves himself into a corner, clenching his fists as hard as he can. Digging his phone out of his pocket, he pulls up the first number there. His hands are shaking so bad he has no idea if the message even sent, let alone made any sense. He sits on his knees, hands pressed against his stomach, and bends so his head makes contact with the cold floor. He suppresses a groan to keep from being found by anyone who wouldn't give a second thought to throwing him on a lab table.

It was a bad idea, coming here, to this school. These people would find out the truth, as they are trained to do, and when they did, Keith knows he would never see the light of day again. Anywhere else, if someone were to see something, there's not much they could do. But here there were many more ways to get caught. Here, they had tools, machines, and people just itching to get their hands on someone like him.

To them, it would be science. To Keith, torture.

Through his heavy breathing he can hear his phone buzzing. It takes a second, but he manages to answer it.

"Keith! Where are you?"

"I - I don't - ah!" The burning seems to intensify, "Please hurry." Keith cries.

"I'm coming. I'm coming I promise."

The phone slips from his hand and he returns to his position, smothering his hands between his abdomen and his thighs in a futile attempt to stop the pain from spreading. The minutes feel like hours, hours until the door to the room slides open and closed again but he can't be bothered to worry about who it is.

"Hey. Hey..."

A hand runs up and down the length of his back.

"You can do this. It's gonna be okay."

"Lance -"

"Shh. You're good. Just breathe." Lance lays his forehead in Keith's hair, whispering comforting words until the pain begins to fade away, not completely, but enough to become bearable enough for him to sit up. Lance glances at his glowing hands in shock. He tries reaching for them when Keith jerks away.

"I don't wanna burn you."

Lance meets his eyes, "I trust you."

He can't remember the last time Lance sounded so sincere. Slowly, he holds out his hands, which Lance takes in his own. When he doesn't pull away, a weight lifts off Keith's shoulders. He doesn't know what he would do if all he was capable of was hurting people. Hurting Lance.

"See?" He grins, and Keith can't help but return it with a short, relieved laugh.

They look at each other, surrounded by darkness except for Keith's glow, broken up by Lance's hands in his. It's just enough that Keith can see, and he looks... different, somehow. The thought of which sends a new feeling fluttering throughout his stomach completely unrelated to his newfound ability, only serving to confuse him even more than he already was.

Keith has never really been in touch with his emotional side, that was more Lance and Hunk's thing. He got by just fine pushing all his feelings to the side and take on the day without a second thought about it. But even he knows what's about to happen when Lance begins to lean towards him, and despite that, despite every ounce of what he had always thought was hate towards his 'frenemy' (as Lance called it), he couldn't bring himself to turn away.

The moment is gone the second the door slides open again and the light flicks on, revealing Hunk and Shiro. Lance and Keith quickly pull their hands away and for the first time today Keith is grateful for the heatwave in his body to use as an excuse for the blush creeping its way onto his cheeks.

Lance on the other hand recovers fast enough that Keith is embarrassed to have been flustered at all. He acts as if nothing had happened, and Keith concludes that he was not in his right mind enough to really know if anything _could've_ happened, and decides that whatever he thought it was, Lance definitely did not think the same thing.

The thought makes his hands shine a little brighter.

"Are you okay?" Shiro asks, rushing to his side.

"Never better."

Shiro laughs, helping him to his feet, "Not that the janitors closet isn't a suitable place to discuss this, but I think we should probably go back to our room."

Keith smiles sheepishly before looking back down at his hands, "What about these?"

Shiro looks around, digging through a couple drawers before pulling out a pair of thick, black work gloves that Keith slips on, blocking out the light entirely.

"Well if I didn't look like a freak before, wearing gloves around for no reason in a desert should surely do it."

* * *

So, Keith stayed in bed the next day. Although he had said time and time again that he was feeling better, which was true, Shiro insisted he lay low for the day to rest and to also give him time to settle any confusion that had been stirred up. They guys had taken turns between classes to check up on him, updating him on anything new going on around the school. Shiro had spoken to Coran as well as Iverson, apologizing for the disruption and passing it off as an anxiety attack, to which they sent their best wishes and hopes that he was feeling better.

Keith had kept the gloves on, but that didn't stop him from checking underneath them every couple of minutes to see if his lights had gone out. They hadn't, but they were significantly dimmer than they had been the day before. Shiro had expressed his guilt in being unable to guide him better, and as much as Keith wished the same, there was no way be could blame him for the hand they'd been dealt at the beginning.

All he can feel now, pacing the room with his gloves off and trying to force the light down, is a strange tingling sensation, like when one of your limbs falls asleep. He walks back and forth, from the bed to the desk, staring intently at his palms.

He's startled by a knock on his door. When he glances at the clock, he notices a whole hour has passed of him pacing around and he groans in frustration. Slipping his gloves back on, he opens the door, but standing there is definitely not who he expected.

There stands Pidge, shuffling awkwardly with two backpacks, one of which he recognizes as his own.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"I - um, you left this yesterday and you didn't come to class today so I thought I'd bring it to you."

He takes it from her, setting it next to the door, "Thanks."

"Yeah, Rolo was trying to dig through it so I decided it'd be safer with me. He didn't... say anything to you. Did he?"

Gratitude swells in his chest at her kind gesture, something she went out of her way to do for him, even after snapping at her on his first day (not that he necessarily regrets doing that). But it's not often anyone outside of his three friends makes an effort to do something nice for him.

"No, just some shit about forgiving me for what happened in the cafeteria." He chuckles at the absurdity of it, but she doesn't join in.

"Why'd you run off then?"

The truth is at the tip of his tongue, and a part of him wonders what would happen if he decided to tell a human what he was. He knows better than to tell, not letting his curiosity take over his common sense.

He opts for their agreed upon excuse, "It was just an anxiety attack, no big deal," he says, averting his eyes to look at her shoes instead.

"Oh."

"Yeah.

"I used to get those a lot. It's been a while since I last had one, but I remember my dad showing me a good way to get through them when I was in public." She shows no sign of remorse at the mention of her dad, but he understands that just because he can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there. Even years after the loss of his entire planet and almost everyone on it, he still knows how hard it can be to put on a brave face.

Keith was lucky to have had Shiro, Lance, and Hunk on his side, and he doesn't know if Pidge has anyone. He realizes he may be in need of a friend just as much as she is, and he steps aside.

"Show me?"

Her eyes widen for a split second before the edge of her mouth quirks up and she steps inside. Tossing her bag at the foot of Shiro's bed, she sits cross legged on the floor, patting the spot in front of her, which he takes. He mirrors her position, placing his hands in his lap and awaiting her next instruction. She lifts a brow when she notices the gloves. To his surprise, she doesn't ask.

"Okay. Close your eyes. Everyone is different when it comes to stuff like this, but this is what helped me. Whenever I began to feel anxious, I would try so hard to push it down without realizing that trying to smother it was only stressing me out more and making it worse. Some people don't realize just how much control you actually have over your body. My dad taught me to imagine guiding that feeling away to a place outside of my mind to make room for what I actually wanted. He told me that no matter what, nothing lasts forever, and that if I was ever stuck, there's always a way out. Those were some really comforting words to hear when I was in so much pain, I had to remember that - even though it felt like it wouldn't - it would go away as long as I let myself find a way out."

Keith let's her words sink in, breathing in and out. He feels for the light, the tingling in his hands. He imagines himself in that janitors closet, thinking the agony would go on forever, but it didn't. He imagines taking hold of the feeling, molding and shaping it, draining it from his skin and into his bloodstream where it spreads to every inch of his being. The tingle disappears from his hands, instead coursing through his veins, but this time its warm. Comforting, even.

When he opens his eyes, Pidge is looking at him, a lopsided grin on her face, "You look relaxed. How do you feel?"

He lets out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, relief flooding through his system and with a laugh, he rips off his gloves, turning his hands over and over again.

No glow.

"You did it!"

Pidge stares at him with confusion, but his excitement is contagious, and the confusion is soon replaced with joy.

"That was all you, Keith."

"But you helped."

She flips her pony tail behind her shoulder, "I mean, I _did_ do a pretty incredible job, didn't I?"

They both burst into laughter. He can't remember the last time he'd felt so open, his muscles completely relaxed. He felt like he knew more about himself, like he had more control.

"Oh! I almost forgot." Pidge exclaims though her giggles. She leans over, dragging her backpack towards them and digging through, pulling out a worn, purple spiral notebook decorated in random stickers. She flips through the pages, "These are the notes we took today, you can look over this and give it back later, I shouldn't need it for tonight."

He takes the notebook from her, noticing doodles strewn about the page when one catches his eye and he smirks, "Is this... Mothman?"

Her cheeks go red and she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, "So I believe in the hypothetical, what about it?"

"Nothing. I just haven't really met anyone else who has."

Her eyes widen, "You think they're real too?"

"Yeah! Did you hear the Loch Ness Monster was actually from the planet Arus, and the aliens brought him here to see if he could survive but took him back when he was discovered by humans and that's why he was only ever seen once?"

She laughs, "Did you know that aliens built the pyramids?"

"What about the theory that our thunderstorms are caused by aliens?" He fires back.

"Crop circles were originally used by the Olkari alien race as a navigational tool, but now they're just made by farmers looking for attention."

Her conspiracies amuse him, because he knows the truth about all of it. What were theories to her were mere bedtime stories to him. "Did you know there's a race of aliens living at the Earth's core, and their wars are the cause of earthquakes and tsunamis?" The two are so invested in their trying to one up each other they don't hear the swish of the door sliding open.

She pauses for a moment, and he begins to think she's run out of theories when she opens her mouth to speak again, "Did you know that a race of aliens called the Galra destroyed their planet and another, and are now on Earth seeking a new energy source, disguising themselves to walk among us to exploit our weaknesses and eventually take over?"

Keith's jaw hangs open and she smirks, thinking she'd beat him at their little game.

"Oh, hey, guys."

Keith, mouth still agape, whips his head towards the door to see Shiro, Lance, and Hunk, their stunned expression quite similar to Keith's.

"Where'd you hear that?" Keith asks, and Shiro shoots him a hard look before shaking it off and greeting Pidge as normal.

"I just read it somewhere. It's obviously a load of crap, though." She flings her backpack over her shoulder, "I gotta get going. Are you guys gonna be at the Halloween festival thing tomorrow? The Garrison kinda goes all out."

Shiro looks down at her with a goofy smile, "Are you going?"

"I was thinking about it."

"I think we can stop by."

She grins, "Awesome! I'll see you guys tomorrow, then."

Each of them say their goodbyes and she leaves.

Shiro makes sure to close the door behind her.

"'Are you going?'" Keith mocks with a smirk on his face, "Could you be any more obvious?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think as the designated love expert here I can safely say you are definitely into her." Lance throws his elbow on Shiro's shoulder, which he brushes off.

"Even if I was - which I'm not - It'd be stupid of me to let anything happen anyway."

"Well if that's the case you better stop looking at her like that or else she's gonna fall in love with you and then you got a _real_ problem," teases Keith.

Shiro glares at him, "Stop trying to change the subject. I have three questions. What was she doing in here? Why are your gloves off? And what -" He runs his hand through his hair, "were you guys doing that prompted her to say that?"

Lance doesn't give him any time to respond before throwing himself on his hands and knees. Keith has to lean back as Lance leans over him, his face just inches away. His eyes are full of accusation.

"Yeah. Why are you conversing with the enemy? You don't like her _too_ , do you?"

Keith frowns, placing his hands on Lance's shoulders and pushing him away, "No. It's not like that. Look." He holds out his now normal hands, "They're back to normal. She helped me."

"So... You showed her?" Shiro's arms are crossed now.

"No! I'm not an idiot. She just... Helped, okay? And she obviously didn't believe any of the stuff she said about the Galra so we have nothing to worry about."

"Except for the fact that somebody, somewhere, believes _and_ is writing about it for other people to read," says Hunk, rubbing his chin.

"We need to figure out where Pidge read it. Maybe we can track down the writers and see where they got their information." Shiro sits down on the edge of his bed.

"What if it's a trap the Galra set up because they expect us to go looking?"

"I still think there could be answers there worth finding."

"What happened to laying low and _not_ running head first into trouble?" Keith never imagined those words would be leaving his mouth, always the one to act before thinking.

"I don't think we're gonna have that option for much longer."

Hunk, who's been lost in thought, voices his opinion, "I agree with Shiro that we should look into whoever wrote about the Galra, but Keith is also right. I don't think we're ready. Keith only _just_ got his first power yesterday, and none of us have gotten any. If we act now we're just setting ourselves up for failure. We should wait. At least until we know we can fight back if something were to happen."

Shiro thinks over his words carefully. Eventually, he nods, "If that's what you guys think is best, then I'm with you. We can't work together unless we're all on board. Why don't we talk about it again when we all have developed at least one power. Okay?"

Keith nods, "Okay."

All he can do is hope that, for once, the odds are in their favor and they don't run out of time before they're ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know, at first i wasn't a fan of klance but it really grew on me.  
> i love them.


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Halloween mishap.

Shiro wakes in a field.

Grass tickles his cheeks before anything else, and the familiar, sweet smell of juniberry flowers floods his senses. His eyes don't have to adjust after opening them, like they usually do after a long night of rest. His chest rises and falls, slowly, a strong aura of calm running through his muscles like a river.

He's wearing a skin-tight white suit. It's less suffocating than one might imagine, more comfortable and freeing than anything else he's ever worn. A round, intricate, black symbol is stitched on the chest, spreading outwards and wrapping around him like vines, and he recognizes the symbol as the one on his chest at the Garrison.

He shoots upwards, looking around with a little more urgency now. The flowers spread far beyond his vision, disappearing over the horizon in an endless sea of pink and green. There's the rustling sound of wind through leaves nearby, but he can't see any trees.

"What am I doing here?"

This is Altea, but that should be impossible. It's been years since he'd last seen his home planet. He'd been sent to Earth when he was just a child. And soon after, his home had been destroyed.

A ship fires up behind him, although he knows it hadn't been there just moments before. A wave of heat crashes into him, and he struggles to stand on the rumbling ground beneath his feet. The sound is deafening in his ears.

When he turns around, the sky darkens from light blue to a dark, fiery orange. Smoke billows from the field around him, the juniberry flowers that were once there now reduced to ash. There are explosions all around him, dropping from the sky, over and over again. A cry distracts him from the chaos.

In front of the ship is a group of seven children, wide eyed and afraid. He recognizes himself immediately, his hair white even then, the prosthetic arm much smaller too. He knows he hadn't been born that way, but he can't seem to recall what had happened, a memory that's hidden itself away. They board quickly, a single adult going in after, leaving the rest to stand solemnly outside. They exchange a few words before sealing the door shut, but he can't hear what they're saying. The ship takes off, blowing dirt and hot air into his eyes.

When he opens them again, the ship is completely gone, in it's place a beam of green light incinerating everything in it's path, heading straight for the group of men, and Shiro. They dive out of the way in the nick of time, but Shiro seems stuck in place. There's nothing he can do but watch as the beam gets closer and closer.

"Shiro!"

He sits up with a gasp, propping himself up on his elbows, breathing heavily. Keith reels back, concern evident in his eyes.

"What did you see?"

"Altea." He manages between breaths, "And us, leaving."

His expression changes from concerned to bitter, "Same as last night?"

Shiro nods, "And the night before and the night before."

He'd gotten nightmares before, but none as vivid and as frequent as the once that sprung up the same night they moved into the Garrison. This was not just a nightmare, it's a memory. He wishes he could say it was just a coincidence, but no part of his life was ever coincidental. There was something about this place. Something about to happen. And it only pushes Shiro to work harder in his training with the others. Determined to be able to stop whatever that something may be.

So many questions flow through his brain. Why send only seven children to Earth in the midst of an invasion with no way of preparing them? How could they possibly fight against an entire alien race with only the powers they don't even have yet, and may not even know how to use? Why is the only part of his past he manages to remember, the part where he's leaving?

_What is he missing?_

"What time is it?"

"Around four thirty."

Shiro sighs, "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Keith assures him, pulling away and climbing up to the top bunk.

Shiro falls back onto his pillow. They've been at the Garrison all of one week, every night the same confusing dream disrupting his sleep. At least Hunk and Lance were faring better in their room next door, although as horrible as it may sound, he wishes he wasn't the only one plagued by nightmares so he didn't have to feel so completely and utterly alone.

Despite the new reoccurring dreams, no other problems had arisen from their integration into their new home, well, not _many_. The boys had managed to blend in with the Garrison crowd without a hitch. In the alien sense of things. There was still the situation in the cafeteria they'd encountered on their second day, and now every time he passes Rolo or someone even remotely affiliated with the guy he receives a glare and the occasional finger across the throat motion, which brings him more amusement than worry. And there was the incident with Keith gaining a new power during one of his classes, which they thankfully managed to pass off as an anxiety attack.

Shiro, Lance, Hunk, and Keith were getting stronger by the day. It's only a matter of time before the rest of them develop their first powers, and after that it's just a matter of finding a safe place to practice without anyone taking notice of their inhuman abilites.

Shiro was rarely without one of the others, but in the short amount of time between classes when he could be on his own, he searched around for the office belonging to the man he'd been looking for. At times he almost gave up, convincing himself that following a hunch he doesn't even know will provide any answers was a silly idea. But it was the fourth day, as he was wandering the halls on his way to meet up with the guys for lunch, taking a route he hadn't yet gone through, when he found it.

Unlike the other offices in the hall that had their doors open to any student in need of assistance, this one was locked, requiring an ID to get through. He tried knocking, once, twice, before leaving, not wanting to seem suspicious if someone were to pass by. He'd just decided to come back later, maybe the guy was just on a break. But every time Shiro returned, the situation was the same.

Shiro racks his mind desperately for some sort of connection between it all, some missing piece that would snap everything into place, but he comes up with nothing. No answers, and his dreams have proved useless once again, only offering yet another restless night, which he sure as hell doesn't need.

And then there was Pidge, who occupied his mind when his past and the locked office didn't. Tonight was the Garrison's Halloween festival apparently, and Shiro had, without thinking, told her they would go. The thought of Lance and Keith being right about his growing feelings for her had him squashing them right back down. And Keith's words echo in his head.

_You better stop looking at her like that or else she's gonna fall in love with you and then you got a_ real _problem._

He comes to the conclusion that avoiding her is the only way to escape the outcome where they both end up heartbroken. Not the most appealing solution, but it should be effective enough. Who knows how long until they're forced to move again? There are plenty of other, more suitable guys for Pidge, not to mention human. Who was he to stand in the way of the normal life she deserved?

* * *

Pidge wasn't lying when she said the Garrison went all out for Halloween. Shiro looks around at the desert, now decorated with stalls upon stalls of carnival games, blinking lights, and even a ferris wheel was rented for the holiday. Spooky Halloween tunes play around them through speakers hooked up around the place. Shiro has to duck to avoid walking through a low hanging spiderweb.

It looks as if the entire student population and their families attended the event, and they all seemed to be having a good time, Hunk even pointed out Iverson laughing along with a small group of staff, Coran being one of them. Shiro though, as always, kept an eye out for any suspicious looking Galra, which was a little more difficult than it would be on a regular day considering there were actors wandering about the festival, waiting for the perfect moment to jump out and scare you.

So he was paranoid in more ways than one, beginning to wish he'd never agreed to this in the first place.

"There's Pidge!" Hunk points her out among the crowd.

She's leaning down in front of a shoot the target stall, helping out a little boy with his aim and winning him a little stuffed witch. He beams up at her before giving more money to the guy running the stall and going again. Her hair is pulled up into a messy bun, her bangs falling into her eyes that she blows away with a huff. She's wearing a dark green, oversized t-shirt that she tied up at the front, a pair of jeans, and white sneakers. He thinks he may even be able to see a pair of earrings, but he's too far away to tell for sure.

Her smile grows wider the moment she spots them, patting the kid on the shoulder before running up to them. He doesn't think he's seen her this happy before.

"Hey, guys!" She grins, hugging herself from the cool desert breeze.

The others say their hellos and Lance throws his arm around her shoulders as they walk.

"So, Pidgearoo, what's the best thing to do at these things besides admire all the pretty ladies." He says that last part a little louder than the rest, winking at a couple passing girls who giggle and whisper to each other. Shiro doesn't miss the brief glance back at Keith, who walks with his arms crossed, glaring in the other direction.

"It's all pretty fun, but the best part is the haunted house they set up inside. It's actually pretty scary compared to other haunted houses I've been to."

It's then when Shiro realizes this is their first carnival. Really, their first big event at all. They'd been to parties, yes, but those were just excuses for kids to get drunk in someones house. This was different. This was a celebration, and despite Shiro's best interests in keeping his guard up, he allows himself to enjoy the scene around him. He doesn't know when another opportunity like this will come, and he hopes the others choose to enjoy this night as well.

"Oh, really. Well you're gonna have to lead us through it, Pidgey, because this would be our first haunted house." Lance mentions, taking the words right out of his head.

"Seriously? I swear it's like you guys have never done anything fun before. Well don't worry. I'll protect you from the scary guys in zombie makeup." She makes a show of cracking her knuckles and looking tough, which only makes the group laugh.

They walk around for a while, playing games, trying new, very sticky foods they've never had the chance to try. Lance and Keith make everything into a competition as usual, and Hunk discovers that Pidge is quite the tech wiz herself, which leads them into a long, very complicated conversation Shiro, Lance, and Keith struggle to follow. Shiro thinks about just how quickly Pidge had fit in with their little close knit group tonight. She shared so many of their interests, and the others easily bonded with her.

But this only proves to make mission 'stay far away from Pidge' even harder. He's spoken barely five words to her all night, which hasn't gone unnoticed by, well, everyone.

Pidge leads them to the entrance of the haunted house just as they're calling for their second to last run through.

"We got four more spots left, who's goin'?"

The group looks between one another.

"Why don't you guys go without me? I've done this a million times, I'll just wait for you out here," Pidge suggests.

Hunk sulks, "No way, this is your favorite part."

"Really, it's no big deal. You go. It's your first one!" She insists.

"Here's an idea! Us three will go in this round, and you and Shiro can go through the next one." Lance chimes in, earning a glare from Shiro. He only grins innocently in response.

"Good idea, Lance." Keith says, and they turn and disappear into the building with no further arguments.

The level of awkwardness is incredibly high as they wait for their turn to go through. He knows he should say something, anything, but his mind comes up blank. He can't decide if he's grateful for the next words that leave Pidge's mouth or not.

"You're ignoring me."

He takes in a deep breath, thinking up a good excuse but coming up empty handed, "I'm n -"

She holds up a finger, "Don't. You are. Did I do something wrong? Is that what it is?"

He nearly face palms himself for giving off that impression, "No. Not at all. It's just... It's complicated."

"Ohhh. Okay," She says, her tone heavy with sarcasm. She rolls her eyes, looking away.

"That came out wrong. Pidge, look at me."

She huffs, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Things are just... hard right now, and I know that's a stupid answer and I can't explain it, but I'm sorry for acting dumb. And, seriously, take this." He shrugs off his jacket and holds it out in front of her, "You're shivering so bad it's making me nervous."

She lets out a shaky laugh, hesitating, but ultimately taking the jacket. The jacket practically swallows her, but she visibly softens, and he knows he's just dug his hole a little bit deeper.

"I forgive you, but don't try to do it again."

"I wouldn't even think of it." He pauses before asking the question he'd thought of earlier, you know, before he was speaking to her. "You said earlier you've done this a million times, but you've only been going here two years."

She kicks at the sand, a soft smile on her face, "Yeah. My dad used to work here since before I was born. This is has basically been my second home my entire life. He and my mom took my brother and I to this every single year." She looks around longingly, "Somehow, it never gets old."

He's about to say something comforting when the guy calls out for the last run through of the night. Pidge goes from solemn to excited in a matter of seconds, grabbing his arm and rushing them to the line. They're the last ones to go in.

They trail behind a bit, taking in the amount of time and effort this must've taken with all the props around them. Pidge yelps when a girl in a zombie costume steps out of the shadows, saying some creepy line before retreating back into her cardboard house. She laughs as they continue on, walking close enough to him that their arms brush at every movement.

He jumps back, instinctively grabbing onto Pidge's hand when a clown jumps in front of him, laughing maniacally.

Pidge chuckles at his fear, "Don't worry. They're not allowed to touch you." She has to yell to be heard over the recordings of forest noises and fake screams. Either way, he doesn't let go of her hand and she shows no sign of wanting him to.

They move on through a curtain and into the next room and immediately he feels something is off. It's almost pitch black, and they can barely see the outline of the objects in front of them, but that's not what caused the rush of adrenaline. He looks behind them, searching for the presence he felt but finding no one. Pidge notices his nerves, squeezing his hand.

"You okay?"

He nods, although he knows she can't see him, and when he turns back around, a hard object hits him directly in the nose, sending him flying backwards and onto the floor. Blood drips from his nose and onto his hands and shirt.

"Shiro!"

He grunts as multiple pairs of hands lift him upwards, another fist flying into his cheek. He rips his human arm from their grasp, sending his elbow back into what feels like a shoulder. He's fighting blindly, holding back in order to keep from accidentally killing anyone with a blow from his prosthetic, which was definitely a worry of his.

"Ow! Let go of me!" Pidge screams. He reaches for her, but to no avail.

"Pidge!"

She yells again but her words are muffled.

Another fist connects with his face, and now, he's angry. With every punch and kick he receives he sends one back, only occasionally hitting a target. Pidge's struggles become fainter every second, until he can't hear her anymore. Each of his blows becomes more desperate than the last. He had a sneaking suspicion this was Rolo's doing to get back at him for interfering that one day.

If only he could just _see_.

Suddenly, every object, every body in the room becomes clear to him. Not from his eyes, but he can sense them, their exact position. He senses a leg coming straight at his back, which he turns and blocks in the nick of time, flipping the guy over. He does this again and again, blocking and dodging, and he can tell he's gaining the upper hand. In one last attempt to take him down, another guy runs straight at him, preparing to tackle him. Shiro reacts on instinct now, holding out his hand and sending the guy flying backwards into a tree prop without even making contact. Telekinesis. He smirks.

"What the hell?"

Shiro turns, grabbing one guy by the front of his shirt and pulling him close, noticing the night vision goggles they all must be wearing, "Where is Katie?"

The guy trembles under his grip, "C - Come on man, chill out. It was just to scare you off a lit -"

"I'm not gonna ask you again. Where is she?"

"They took her to the witches house. It's the last room, she should be with Rolo by now! Just let me go!" he cries.

Shiro drops him and he crumples to the floor. He searches around with his mind for the exit, rushing through that room and the next, eventually making it to what has to be the witches house. The lights are all on, meaning the haunted house has since closed, and he spots Pidge in the middle of the room. Her hair has since fallen out of her bun and now flows wildly around her shoulders. She's held in place by Rolo, her back pressed against his chest with one arm around her waist and one around her neck, but he doesn't seem to be having an easy time keeping her at bay.

"Stand still, I just wanna talk!" He orders, but she doesn't listen. She bites the arm around her neck. Rolo screams in pain, shoving her down to the floor with a grunt.

Shiro rushes to her side, holding out his hand for her to take so he can pull her up. His jacket is covered in rips and tears, but what really draws his attention is the trickle of blood he spots through a hole.

He can't tell if it's his telekinesis that makes Rolo lurch back, or the sheer rage in the glare he sends his way. Shiro starts towards him, prepared to knock his teeth clean out when Pidge grabs onto his hand, urging him to stand down. He is admittedly a little disappointed at the thought of _not_ getting to beat the living daylights out of him, but he'd rather put off Pidge seeing that side of him for as long as possible before the inevitable happens. That doesn't stop him from speaking though.

"What the _hell_ was that, Rolo?"

"Look, I just wanted to talk to Pidge and I had to get you out of the way or I never would've gotten the chance."

Shiro's about to retort when Pidge puts a hand on his chest, stepping in front of him.

"You wanna talk to me and instead of just asking like a normal person you beat up my friend and kidnap me?"

"They weren't supposed to -" His sentence is cut off by her hand connecting with his cheek, the sound echoing throughout the room. From the corner of his eye he can see Lance, Keith, and Hunk rush into the room, but Pidge isn't done.

"They _did_. Rolo. They hurt him, hurt _me_. And you think that I could _ever_ want to listen to what you have to say after this? We're _done_. I thought that was clear the first time. Don't talk to me again. Don't talk to them again. This is _over_. Understand?" Her voice is shaky, yet forceful, and Shiro is beyond glad he's not in Rolo's shoes right now.

"Katie, I -"

" _Do you understand_?"

He nods, and that's all she needs before storming out of the building past a stunned Lance, Keith, and Hunk. Shiro follows not far behind, sending a warning look Rolos way before ushering his friends out as well.

"Well, that was an interesting turn of events, wasn't it?" Her cheerful tone contradicting shakiness of her voice. She pulls his jacket tighter around herself, and he can tell she's trying really hard to keep it together in front of them. He shares a worried look with Keith, who's expression mirrors his own, and he flicks his head in her direction.

Shiro nods, heading towards her, "Come on, I'll walk you to your room." He looks back at his friends, "I'll catch up with you guys in a bit."

They walk in silence, side by side. Her hands are shaking, clenched around his jacket like her life depends on it. The festival had since shut down and everyone retreated back into their rooms, save for a couple of late stragglers who pay them no mind as they make their way around the front of the building.

Once they reach her room, which he realizes he's never actually been to, she stands in the open doorway. Behind her he can see clutter strewn about, papers and little mechanical objects covering the desk and the floor in no particular order. He couldn't tell whether he was surprised at her lack of organization, or if it fit her personality just right. She slips out of his jacket, holding it in front of her yet not exactly offering it to him. "This is ruined. I'm sorry."

"I don't care about the jacket, Pidge."

She sniffles, "You should care. It was a nice jacket."

He lets out a single laugh, placing his hands over hers and lowering them down so she would look up at him.

"You've known me, what, a week, and look at how much trouble I've already caused you."

He shrugs, "I've been through worse."

She chuckles, "Yeah, you really are a mystery, aren't you, Shiro?" She licks her thumb, reaching up and wiping away the last of the smears of blood from his chin. He grabs her wrist, ever so gently, holding it in front of his lips for a moment before thinking better of it and letting go.

"You have no idea."


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge gets into some trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: i don't know anything about hacking so forgive me

A little less than two months pass since Halloween. It's winter break, the Garrison nearly empty save for the students who don't have anywhere else to go, like Shiro and the others. Pidge stayed too, despite having her mother at home, saying she wasn't quite ready to return yet. They decided it was best not to press the subject further.

But while the days go by quickly, they're anything but smooth.

Tossing a body across the room using telekinesis is only easy when you're in danger, apparently. It takes Shiro two days after Halloween to even master rolling a pencil across the desk. He encouraged the others to practice too, assuming that if he had the ability, there was a good chance they had it too and just haven't found a chance to use it.

Keith had gotten the hang of it rather quickly, proving to be a natural at controlling his powers. He teaches them a trick he'd learned from Pidge, which actually is quite helpful. If only she'd known what she was helping with when she'd taught him.

Just a week later, the boys are throwing pencils and pillows and just about anything they can get a hold of at one another from across the room. It became somewhat of a game, trying to catch the others off guard when they're not paying attention to see if they can sense an object flying straight towards them.

Once telekinesis became second nature to them through lots of training and practice, they had their other powers to focus on, which began to spring up quickly after. And not always at the most convenient of times.

Hunk, they found out, can create Earth tremors, and as you may have already guessed, there's no way to discover that without making a huge disruption. At least he was lucky enough to have been in his room at the time. He'd just woken up, and the second his foot made contact with the ground, the Earth began to shake rather violently. Enough to send Lance from the top bunk to the floor. Hunk had pulled his foot up so Lance wouldn't land on it, and the shaking suddenly stopped. It was just a matter of connecting the dots. The news later that night had described the rapid on and off ground shaking as one of the strangest earthquakes man has ever seen.

And then there was Lance. He had been ecstatic to discover the Garrison's indoor pool, pleading with the others to go with him every day until they'd finally agreed, going during the late recreational hours when no one else was there. They'd stolen one of the training kayaks from the storage room, and somehow, while the others were busy with a game of basketball, Lance had managed to tip over. His foot had gotten stuck in the kayak, and in his panic, he struggled to grab hold of anything with his telekinesis. He'd described it as trying to hold onto a bar of soap. And just as he'd come to terms with dying because of a stupid kayaking mistake in a swimming pool, be began to breath. Underwater. Despite that, he was still pretty angry at the others for taking so long to notice.

But while the others could shake the Earth, breathe under water, and shoot light from their palms on top of their telekinesis, Shiro has yet to develop anything more. Although their new abilities aren't exactly on fighting level, Shiro can't help but think that if he hadn't gotten another by now, maybe he didn't have any more to gain. He tries not to dwell on the thought, but finds himself training even harder as a result, not wanting to be the weakest link just in case he really doesn't have any more powers coming his way.

It was definitely an interesting month.

Now it's just a matter of keeping their abilities hidden. But some of them are being a little less cautious than Shiro would like.

They're sitting at their usual lunch table in an almost empty cafeteria, joined by Pidge, when Shiro notices Lance concentrating on Keith's cup. Before he can intervene though, the glass of water tips over and into Keith's lap. To anyone else, it would've looked as if Keith had just made a clumsy mistake, which is exactly what Lance had planned.

He and Hunk burst into laughter, "Come on, Keith, be more careful next time!"

"You know, I'm starting to miss nice Lance."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"We had a bonding moment!" Keith throws his arms in the air.

"Nope. Don't remember, didn't happen."

Even Pidge tries to suppress a smile when Keith stands, a wet spot on the front of his pants. He lunges across the table at Lance, who just laughs even harder. This goes on for a little bit until they begin to draw attention from some of the nearby tables and Shiro decides to get involved. He grabs Keith by the back of his shirt, pulling him away and guiding him back to his seat. He tries to give them a stern look, but he can't help it when a chuckle escapes and the whole table is laughing, all except for Keith.

He huffs, crossing his arms and sinking lower into his chair, "Not funny."

Lance's laughter is cut off abruptly when his head slams down directly onto his pizza. The table is silent.

Shiro's convinced he'll never get to enjoy a peaceful lunch.

"Why did you do that?" Pidge asks, wide eyed. Her voice is split between amusement and pure confusion, not knowing exactly what to think about Lance's sudden action. The two glaring boys turn to her in surprise, as if they'd forgotten she was there, or that she wasn't in on their little secret that is now of the verge of being exposed because of their inability to play nice.

Lance swipes a napkin from the table, dabbing at the grease and sauce on his face before grinning her way, "I felt so bad for Keith peeing his pants and I decided to do what any good friend would do and take the attention off of him by doing something equally as embarrassing."

Keith covers his mouth with his hand as he smirks at the lie. Pidge looks between them skeptically before shaking her head, "You guys are so weird."

Keith props his elbows on the table, "You're the one who reads conspiracies in her free time." Shiro is tempted to applaud him for the subject change.

She pouts, "Not _all_ the time. And don't try to act like you're not equally as interested."

"Actually, I've been thinking about the one you mentioned the other day. About the Galra? I've never heard that one before. Where did you say you read it again?"

She shrugs, "Just some weird website."

Keith puts his hand facedown in front of her, pulling her attention away from her food, "Will you show me?"

They end up crammed around her desk in her single bedroom. They had to tiptoe cautiously around in order to keep from stepping on anything while Pidge tread carelessly through without even having to look at her feet. Anybody else would apologize for the mess, but just just looked at them expectantly from her desk chair as if telling them to hurry it up.

She types away on her laptop, pulling up a website. The heading at the top displays the word 'VISITOR' in green lettering, a little smiling alien in place of the O. The menu bar ranges from 'sightings' to 'theories' to 'message board'. She clicks on the 'theories' button. The one they're looking for is at the very top, posted a little less than three months ago and nothing after it, as if the writers had disappeared after posting it.

_Or maybe they were killed._

Shiro pushes the thought away. He leans forward, one hand on the back of Pidge's chair and one on the edge of the desk. She's mere inches away now, but he focuses on reading the post, scanning it for any sort of information on the writer.

"Do you know who writes these?"

"Nobody knows. They try to keep a pretty low profile on here."

"Any way you can find out?"

She scoffs, "Of course I can. But I'm not gonna do it without knowing why." She turns her head to make eye contact with him, challenging him to tell her the truth.

"Keith won't admit it, but he's a real die hard for this kind of stuff. He wants the chance to talk with the guys. You know, pick their brain, see where they get their info," Hunk says in a stroke of genius. She looks to Keith, who just shrugs sheepishly. She doesn't seem fully convinced, but the answer is apparently satisfying enough for her to give in.

"Fine. But _only_ because I'm curious to know their sources as well." She opens up a program and begins typing away.

"How long is this gonna take?" Lance asks.

"I don't know, could be an hour, could be all day."

Lance groans, brushing some stray books aside and flopping onto her bed.

She gives him a pointed look, "You guys don't have to stay. I can just send you a text when it's done."

"We'll stay," Shiro says. She smiles at him, and then returns to work.

An hour passes, then two. Then three. Lance and Keith had since fallen asleep beside each other on Pidge's bed with their legs on top of Hunks, who sits at the end, shuffling a deck of cards he found somewhere in the mess the is Pidge's room. Shiro situated himself on the floor, back against the desk, messing with a Rubik's cube he also found laying about the clutter. He can sense the small girl sparing him passing glances between code, but he's never fast enough to make eye contact, as she'd already returned to her task by the time he looks up.

Four hours pass. Five. And besides the occasional pause she takes to stretch, Pidge doesn't take any breaks. Every once in a while she'll growl, berating herself for making a mistake and muttering for a couple minutes until she goes quiet, only a matter of time before the cycle repeats.

It's 6:23 PM, six hours since she started, when Pidge says the words they'd all been impatiently waiting for.

"I'm done!"

Lance snorts awake at the same time as Keith, looking confused for a moment before shoving the other away. They all crowd around the screen while she gets up from her chair to stretch.

"They had a _lot_ of protection," Pidge rubs her red rimmed eyes, "But I managed to track down their IP address. There's their phone number, and there's where they were at the time the post was made."

Lance whoops, picking her up and spinning her around, "You're a genius!"

"Ow. Can't breathe."

He puts her down and Shiro squeezes her shoulder, "You did great."

She blushes, "Thanks. But really. These guys did not want to be tracked down."

Shiro found himself hoping the same thing, and as much as he wanted to call in that moment, it would be safer to do it when Pidge isn't around. "You must be exhausted. We'll leave you alone to get some sleep." The others agree, making their way towards the door.

She looks shocked, "Whoa. Hold on. You're not gonna call?"

"We were gonna call... Later." Shiro brings his arm up to rub the back of his neck.

"Seriously? Six hours is nothing. I'm calling them now, whether you want to stay or not."

Shiro shares a worried glance with the others, which they return. They make the silent agreement to stay, knowing that whatever it is she hears on that phone call, its best if they hear as well.

It's becoming more and more difficult to keep their secret from Pidge. For one, she's always around, not that any of them didn't want her to be. Also, her curious nature makes her more observant than the average human, and if they continue to slip up like this, keep letting her in, it was only a matter of time before the truth got out. It's foolish to hope that she wouldn't immediately turn them into the Garrison, let alone still want to be their friend. It's what any human being who cared for their planet would do.

She dials the phone number on the screen, making sure her caller ID will be hidden before pressing the call button. The phone rings for what feels like forever, but Shiro had gotten his hopes up too fast, only to be extra disappointed when someone picks up.

"Hello?"

Pidge, all too cheerfully, says, "Hi! I was calling to inquire about an article on Visitor posted sometime in August."

"How did you get this number?"

"I found it on the website."

The guy mutters something before sighing, "Alright. Go ahead."

There's something mischievous in her smile that sends butterflies through Shiro's stomach for a multitude of reasons. Pidge can be kind of scary when she's up to something.

"I was just curious about the article on the Galra. There was never another post on the subject, and I'd really like to know more."

The man speaks to someone else in the room. His voice is muffled, so Shiro can't make out any words, but it's filled with worry. Fear. He uncovers the phone, releasing a shaky breath, "Do not call here again." And he hangs up.

"Weird."

Pidge is far from bothered by the effect her questions had on the man, but Shiro and the others couldn't be more unnerved by the outcome. His reaction could only mean he's had contact with the Galra, and they'd said something to him to keep him quiet. But what? The reality of the situation finally hits him. No more messing around, having fun with their powers, which he knows now they will have to use against the Galra eventually. Sooner than he'd let himself realize.

"So what do we do now?" Keith asks, looking to Shiro.

He knows they have to track that guy down, but he doesn't want to say it in front of Pidge in fear that she'd want to tag along. There's no chance she won't, and Shiro dreads the thought of having to tell her no. When he doesn't say anything, she does.

"We should check out the address I found and see if they're still there."

Shiro's stomach sinks and he has to suppress the urge to just stand there and scream. She'd said the exact thing he didn't want to be brought up in the conversation.

"I don't think that's a good idea." He manages to maintain an even tone.

"Why not? It's obviously an act to try to scare us. That's like, their whole brand. This just means they know something."

"Yeah, maybe we shouldn't bother them." Keith adds, backing him up.

Pidge groans, "You guys aren't _scared_ by that crap, are you?"

"It could be dangerous."

"Danger is my middle name." She teases, but Shiro isn't falling for it.

"This isn't a joke. We're not going."

She goes quiet, narrowing her eyes at him before standing up straight, a look of defiance in her eyes, "Fine. I'll go by myself."

"No, you won't."

"Funny that you think you can tell me what to do."

He clenches his fists in frustration. This girl was going to be the death of him one day.

He puts both hands on her shoulders, catching her off guard, and looks directly into her eyes, "Katie. I am asking you to not go to that address. _Please_."

It must be the fear in his eyes that causes her expression to soften, "Fine." She pushes his arms away and takes a step back. "I'm tired. I think you guys should go."

She glares at them when they hesitate, wary looks on their faces, "I'm not gonna go."

"You didn't promise." Lance points out.

"I promise," she says, rolling her eyes, "Happy now?"

He's not, but he leaves anyway, because that's what she wants, and he doesn't want to get even further onto her bad side than he already is.

* * *

She feels bad for breaking her promise to her friends - her only friends, she reminds herself, as if trying to change her own mind. Especially when Shiro looked so worried about her going. But she was nothing if not defiant, breaking rules she believes are unjust, and hating being told what to do. It's just in her blood. She gets it from her mom.

It's not that she _can't_ listen, its just that when someone underestimates her, makes her feel fragile, the desire to prove them wrong is so strong she can't ignore it. She hates feeling like she can't take care of herself, feeling weak. She knows Shiro didn't intend to make her feel that way, and she knows it's extremely petty of her to go behind his back, but this is the way she is. Maybe she'll try to change one day, but today is not that day.

She also believes that maybe, just maybe, the theories are true. At first, when she had expressed the idea that her family had been taken, they let her indulge in her fantasies, brushing it off as one of her coping methods. After a while though, she hadn't given up, and when everyone kept telling her how crazy she was for thinking her family was taken by aliens, a part of her became discouraged enough to believe it. But that didn't stop her from looking, hacking into Garrison computers, reading alien sighting blog posts, going through her fathers years of research, anything she could get her hands on. This post is a lead, and if these guys aren't as nuts as she'd been conditioned to think, if there actually is an alien race on Earth, then there's a chance her dad and brother may be alive somewhere. There's no way she'd ever pass up the opportunity to find out more. She gets _that_ from her dad.

She sneaks out of her room. Technically, she doesn't have to, lights out aren't in over an hour, but it's more fun when she pretends she's breaking a rule. She strolls through the halls as if it's just another day, keeping an eye out for Shiro or one of the others when she bumps into Coran.

"Oh! Hello, Pidge. Where are you off to?"

"I'm going on an adventure." She says, matter-of-factly.

"What kind of adventure?"

She brings very voice down to a whisper, "A super secret mission. You can't tell anyone."

He winks and clicks his tongue, "Your super secret mission is safe with me."

"Thanks, Coran." She beams up at him. She's known Coran all her life, he's like her uncle, and he was always on her side. She doesn't know what she would've done after her father and brother disappeared if he hadn't been there, supporting her every step of the way.

"Alrighty, then! Have fun on your adventure!"

They part ways and she heads outside. It's just a little after dark. The app on her phone notifies her that her ride is only a minute away, and soon enough, it pulls up beside her.

The drive lasts around forty five minutes, since the Garrison is in the middle of nowhere, but eventually the driver pulls into a worn down looking neighborhood. The address she's looking for is a two story house surrounded by one stories. It's brick, vines running up and down the sides. One of the windows is boarded up. A shiver runs down her spine. She's tempted to tell the driver to just turn back and take her home, but her pride gets the better of her. She gets out of the car.

The driver pulls away. No going back now. She takes a deep breath and heads up the cracked concrete steps. When she knocks, the door creaks open and she takes one look back before entering. The smell of cigarette smoke is so heavy in the air she can't suppress a cough. A light flicks on at the top of the stairs to her left and she immediately realizes how stupid of an idea this was. Her heart is racing in her chest. She turns around to run right back out the door when a hand reaches around her, pushing it closed.

"What the hell do you want?"

She tries to steady her breathing, putting on a brave face before turning to face the man she knows is the one she talked to on the phone. He's a big, pudgy guy with a beard, holding a baseball bat in one of his hairy hands. His greasy, brown hair falls into his eyes and his breath stinks of smoke. What really draws her eye, though, is the long scar down the length of his face she guesses isn't from any every day accident.

_What have you gotten yourself into now?_

"I'm looking for the guy who wrote the article on the Galra. Is that you?"

"You're the girl from the phone, aren't you? You're one of them!"

"What?"

"Haven't you caused me enough trouble?" He swings the bat down. She moves out of the way just in time, the bat breaking a hole in the wooden floor.

"I'm not whatever you think I am!" She yells, dodging his next swing and fumbling for the pepper spray she'd stored in her bag for emergencies. And this could definitely be considered an emergency.

"Then you're one of the ones they're looking for!"

" _Who_?"

"You _know_!" This would be so much more worth it if he wasn't so _vague_.

She's too late to dodge the next swing. He gets her in the side, knocking the wind out of her. She barely manages to get a grasp on her pepper spray through the pain, taking advantage of the moment he winds up to spray him. He screams, dropping the bat to rub his eyes. She picks it up, swinging it at the guy who'd just showed up at the sound of commotion, hitting him in the head. She thinks this is her chance of escape, but the guy she'd pepper sprayed tackles her blindly. She falls to the floor, using her free arm to hit him with the bat, but she's unable to do much damage from her vantage point beneath him. The second guy rips the bat from her grasp, throwing it into the next room over.

He grabs her elbows, pulling her out from underneath the bigger guy and she uses the momentum to pull her feet back and kick him in the head while he's still getting up.

"Fuck!" He grabs for her feet, but she doesn't make it easy as he still can't see. He finds one, wrapping his hand around her ankle. She get's one last kick in, feeling his nose crunch underneath the heel of her boot before he captures her other foot. He wails, struggling to find his footing before he stands, unbalanced on his own two feet. Together, they lift her off the ground and her struggling does her no good as they take her down a flight of stairs.

The basement is unfinished, smelling of mud and mildew. There's a washer and dryer on one wall, but on the other stands a desk, covered in sticky notes and drawings and maps. She assumes this is where all the articles are written, but she's not high enough to sneak a glance at any of the notes.

"Tie her to the chair." The pepper spray guy sputters out through the blood dripping into his mouth. Some of it drips onto her and she can't help but cringe at how gross it is. But getting blood on her clothes is the least of her worries as they toss her onto a chair. The other guy ties her hands behind her back, while the other, tears streaming from his eyes, holds down her thighs to keep her from moving.

"I'm not who you think I am. Just let me go!"

"They're coming by tomorrow morning. We just have to deal with her until they get here, we can sick er' on them and she's their problem."

"Who's them? What do you want with me?" She wiggles around in her constraints as her ankles are being tied to the chair legs.

"Don't play dumb! You know _exactly_ what we're talking about." She flinches as more blood is spit in her face from his words.

She's done trying to convince them, it's a losing battle. "Help!" She screams at the top of her lungs until she's out of breath. She's about to do it again when the guy finishes tying up her leg and backhands her.

She glares up at him as he places a length of duct tape over her mouth.

"You're lucky we don't just kill ya now and get it over with."

"She pepper sprayed me AND broke my nose. You sure I can't kill her?"

The second guy chuckles, "Maybe you can rough her up a bit before they get here."

They both laugh and she desperately wants to ask more questions. Who are 'they'? Are they referring to the Galra? They couldn't possibly be real... Could they?

She doesn't have any more time for questions when a fist connects with her head, and she's out for the rest of the night.

When she comes to, her eyes are dry and crusted. She wishes she could rub the initial blurriness from them, but the rope rubbing uncomfortably against her wrists has other ideas. From what she can make out after blinking a couple times, a large - larger than she's ever seen - pair of boots stand only two feet away. If she didn't feel so weak, she would try to get a glimpse of who those feet belonged to. On the other hand, feigning sleep allowed her to listen to what they were saying.

"She's not one of them, you idiots! I've told you time and time again that the last of them are _male_. You don't want a repeat of last time you failed me, do you?"

"N - no, sir. I mean, your highness. I - I mean... Your... Leadership?" The guy who she recognizes as the one who tied her up cowers. The guy with the huge feet steps out of her line of vision. He growls rather angrily before a loud crash booms throughout the basement, the guys screams mixing in with the sounds of breaking glass and other clattering objects. She nearly jumps out of her skin at the sudden noise, giving away her advantage. The room goes silent for a moment, but she's too scared to look up and meet the mans eyes that she knows are directed at her.

He snarls, "She's awake. Get rid of her, she's of no use to me. I'll be back in twelve hours, and if you don't have something to show for yourself by the time I get back, you know what happens." And he stomps up the stairs, slamming the door on his way out.

The guy whimpers, and she feels almost bad for him. Almost. Twelve hours was nothing. He'd been set up to fail.

She finally builds up the courage to lift her head, taking in the scene around her. The desk was now standing on just two legs, the top now leaning partially on the floor, papers strewn all throughout the room. Her captor sits just next to it, propped up on his elbows and rubbing the spot on his head where she'd hit him with the baseball bat last night. Despite her being tied to a chair currently, there was a little bit of pride in her chest at not making it easy for them. She wonders where the broken nose guy went, and how he fared with the pepper spray.

"What're you lookin' at?" He grumbles. He staggers to his feet, limping over to her, "YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?" There's a wild look in his eyes, he's clearly unstable, and she frantically shakes her head. His arm snaps up, bursting into laughter when she flinches.

"Now _that's_ funny."

"Dave! Get your ass up here and help me with this!" The other guy yells from the top of the stairs. Dave sobers up quickly, muttering something about never getting to have any fun before disappearing up the stairs.

Catching her breath, Pidge squeezes her eyes shut playing her dads words over and over in her head.

_Nothing lasts forever._

_There's_ always _a way out._

When she opens her eyes, a bright yellow sticky note on the floor catches her attention. The handwriting is messy, resembling random scribbles, but she can just barely manage to make out the words.

THREE ELIMINATED

FOUR STILL ALIVE

ONE SPOTTED AT GARRISON - METAL ARM

A FIFTH? ? ?

She gasps at the third line. Were these men hunting Shiro? Could Lance, Keith, and Hunk be the other three they're looking for? Could they be connected to all of this? To the Galra? Is that why they all seemed so interested in the post?

From the man's reaction every time she'd brought up the Galra, she's begun to assume that, real or not, _aliens or not_ , the word has too much effect on him to just be nothing. It's only a matter of figuring out how much of what she's seen is the truth, and she knows her friends have not been completely honest with her either. 

After she'd showed them their dorms the first day they'd arrived, she rushed to her room, using what little information she knew about them to do a little research. Shiro had given her his papers, and while she pretended to search for their room number, she'd also found his full name, which came up with only one result on the internet that seemed worth her time. The Garrison Foreign Exchange Program.

At first glance, the website seemed legit. Their names, photos, ages and even a short 'get to know the winners' section were present, as well as a brief history on the relatively new program, but she knew better than to trust what she could see without looking a little deeper first, and she did what she does best. Within the code of the website, she was shocked to discover it had been created only two days prior, contradicting the info publicly displayed - and their entire backstory. She'd never brought it up though. First, because she'd originally assumed there would be no connection between them whatsoever, later because she'd become so attached she couldn't admit she'd looked them up, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know the truth anyway.

Even now, she's torn between desperately searching for answers or doing whatever she can to keep herself in the dark. Is she ready to handle whatever she finds out?

The day passes in relative silence, save for the occasional thump or yell from the floor above. Her mind is far from quiet, however, the same questions replaying themselves over and over. From what little she can see through the tiny, mold stained window, the sky gradually turns from light blue, to orange, to navy. Just as she begins to worry her captors had fled, forgetting all about the girl they had tied to a chair in their basement, the guy she'd struck with a baseball bat - Dave - descends the wooden staircase.

"Now here's the deal. We're gonna kill ya, no question about that. But it's yer lucky day, cause you've got a little bit of a choice here. Ya _know_ something. Can't think of any other reason ya'd come out here lookin' for more details. So we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. And when I take that tape off, yer gunna shut up and behave. Got it?" Through his spiel he pulls a switchblade from his waistband, trailing it down the side of her face, lightly enough that it only tickles. She glares at him.

Something in him snaps. He leans over her enough for the chair to tip backwards, not falling back all the way, his face just inches from hers. The knife presses harder and harder into her cheekbone, "It's a simple nod, girl." His eyes are wide. He twitches. "You should show me some respect for even givin' you a choice. Now I'm not gunna ask ya again. Do you understand?" With the last word he drags the knife down, cutting through her skin and drawing blood. She whimpers under the tape, her eyes filling with tears.

He's about to go again when a loud thump and a scream comes from upstairs. Dave whips around, pulling a gun from his waistband and training it on the stairs. All is quiet for a couple moments until someone jiggles the handle. She jumps when the door goes flying off it's hinges into the opposite wall, her heart beating erratically with anticipation.

A cry of relief escapes her body when Shiro comes racing down the stairs, followed by Lance and Keith. Dave's bullets just barely miss them. He backs away quickly but Shiro's faster, knocking the gun from his shaking hands to the floor and shoving him towards the others, who hold him back.

Shiro rushes to her, placing a gentle hand on her cheek for only a moment before ripping the duct tape from her mouth.

"Shiro, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't know -"

"Shh. It's gonna be okay." He crouches behind her to untie her hands.

Dave breathes heavily as he struggles, "You're them. You're the ones they're looking for." He begins to sob.

"What are you talking about?" Keith demands, pulling his arm back until he screams in agony.

"Let me go! Please! They're coming for you! They're almost here!"

Hunk peeks in from the top of the staircase, "Guys, we need to go. Now!"

Shiro finishes on her hands, moving to her feet. She rubs the rope burns on her wrists.

"They want you dead! They're almost here and they want you dead!" Dave screams at the top of his lungs.

Shiro loosens the rope around her ankles before turning to the crazed man. Pidge uses the distraction as the chance to swipe the yellow sticky note and the gun off the floor, shoving both in her waistband, covered up by her shirt.

Shiro takes a fistful of Dave's shirt, dragging him across the room and shoving him into the chair Pidge had previously been tied to. He wraps the rope around his torso, tying a quick knot before grabbing her hand and rushing up the stairs, Lance and Keith right on her heels. Hunk is already out the door when they reach the first level, and they waste no time in following. Hunk throws open the drivers side door, starting the engine while the rest of them pile in. Hunk pulls away the second Pidge slams the door shut behind her, and just in time too. When she looks out the back window she sees a black car pull into the driveway of the house.

Heavy breathing is the only sound to be heard in the car for at least five minutes, everyone giving their hearts a chance to slow down from their little rescue mission. But Pidge's nerves still run wildly inside her, unsure if she'd just gone from one dangerous entrapment to another.

Lance and Hunk sit in the front while Shiro sits between Keith and Pidge in the back. Pidge presses herself as close to the door as possible. Shiro seems to notice this, reaching a hand out to her when she pulls the gun from her waistband. Pointing it directly at his forehead.


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coran gets involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to all who have been reading and liking these! i'm having a really fun time writing these

The car swerves.

"Holy shit!"

"Hunk! Eyes on the road!" Lance screams, grabbing the wheel.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Keith yells, he and Shiro against the opposite door with their hands in the air, putting as much distance between them and her as possible. Not necessarily because they can't handle a small girl with a gun, their telekinesis would make stopping the bullet rather easy. They just would rather not have to use it. There's still a chance they could reverse this, all they have to do is keep from scaring her any more than she already is.

"I don't know!" She screams, tears streaming down her face, "Everybody says that I am! Everybody said my dad and my brother were for wasting their lives away on some super secret alien project! And now they're _gone_! And once I finally start to accept the fact that they're dead, that I'm just crazy and my family is dead, you guys come along, fuck _everything_ up, this shit happens, and I don't know what to believe anymore. I'm more confused than I've ever been and all you guys have done is lie to me when you were supposed to be my friends and now I hear that somebody's _after you_? Is it the Galra? Are _you_ the Galra? What the _fuck_ is going on?" Her voice cracks at that last part and she starts to sob. Shiro can feel his heart breaking for more reasons than one. Nothing he does can prepare him for what he has to say next.

"Pidge. Listen to me. There's no such thing as the Galra. Those were just two guys who got caught up in their own fantasy and convinced themselves it was real. They were crazy. Not you. I can't even imagine having to go through what you had to. This is the hardest time of your life, and nobody can blame you for hoping they could be alive. I'm sorry, Katie. I'm so sorry."

She only cries harder in response, and he decides now is his opportunity to gently put his hand over hers, pointing the gun downwards and eventually taking it from her. He tosses it in the trunk, pulling the crying girl into his arms. She sobs into his chest, getting blood and tears all over his shirt, but he doesn't care. He wishes he could bear the weight of her problems for her, lift them off her shoulders so she could be free and happy. God, how he wishes he could make her happy.

Lance, looks back at her sadly, and even Keith puts a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Shiro's anger at her for breaking her promise had dissipated the second he stepped foot into that basement. Seeing her bruised and bleeding face had only managed to flip that anger around, directed at the Galra for destroying his planet and preventing him from having a normal life, directed at everyone who'd ever played a part in breaking the amazing girl he'd come to know, but most of all directed at himself for having to lie to her, for dragging her into this mess in the first place. All he wanted to do was protect her, and he failed.

But this isn't over. She's a part of this now, despite Shiro's efforts to keep her out of it. By leaving those men alive, the Galra will know that she was there, and that they had come to get her out. They gave away their connection with Pidge, making her a target. What the next step is, Shiro doesn't know. Although a majority of Pidge's questions were left unanswered, all he can do right now is be the friend he hadn't been, and offer her the comfort she needs until she falls asleep.

He has to nudge her awake when they arrive, and she wordlessly pulls away from him. Her eyes are puffy, and there's still dried blood on her face from where he assumed they cut her - something he can't even begin to think about without the urge to go back and pummel those guys into the ground.

With all she'd been through in such little time, he realizes how tired she must be, but he's not ready to leave her side for the night yet, as selfish as that might sound. One reason being he doesn't want anything to happen to her while he's not there. The second being that he didn't fully trust her to not go off and do something crazy again after breaking her promise to him last night.

It didn't appear she felt the same, though, because the minute she exits the vehicle she's already halfway towards the building. Shiro's tempted to chase after her when Keith puts a hand on his arm.

"I think we better give her some space."

He hates every second of it, but space he gives.

* * *

Hunk and Lance stay in their room that night. Not much sleep is shared between the four, but no sleep equals no dreams, which is something small to be grateful for in the growing mound of problems in his life.

That little plus evaporates into thin air in record time though, when something catches his eye on one of the various TVs spread about the dining hall. The day has barely even begun. Their exhausted bodies protested, but their stomachs were louder, which led them there in the first place, and they had been sitting there in silence for at least twenty minutes. Shiro was staring blankly at the screen, so distracted with other things in his mind he almost missed it.

There, playing on repeat while a news woman speaks words he can't hear next to it, is a video of a sandy beach, zooming in on Shiro, then to Keith, then to Lance and Hunk, all clutching their new glowing scars in pain. It's dark in the video, too dark to be able to identify them if you weren't there or weren't outright looking, but the light coming from their calves is obvious enough to raise some questions.

He tries to get the others attention while squinting to read the subtitles.

_\- who took the video wishes to remain anonymous, stating, "It took me a long time to get the courage to put this video out there, but whatever happened was too strange not to share. I thought I'd hallucinated it at first. But this is proof that what I saw was real. I just hope that somebody out there can provide some answers."_

Hunk drops his head in his hands and groans, "As if things couldn't get any worse."

_Could it be something beyond our understanding, or is it just some practical joke? If anyone has any information as to what is going on, please contact us at Channel 9 News. Join us n -_

"At least it doesn't give the Galra any new info on where we are now."

"Maybe. But if people start to find out that's us, things are gonna go downhill really fast."

They gather their things and head out. At least there was nobody else in the cafeteria to even notice, unfortunately the same can't be said for the entire country.

They try to keep a normal pace despite the circumstances. There's no use in stirring up a nervous energy in the Garrison if they don't have to.

"Oh! Boys, hold on just a moment, there's something I'd like to speak with you about." A voice that could only belong to Coran shouts from behind them. Shiro has to suppress the urge to groan. He would really like to wallow in his sorrow at his upcoming demise in the privacy of his own room. Is that too much to ask?

The others seem to be on the same page as they reluctantly turn around. Coran stands in the doorway of his office with a grin on his face, "Come in, come in. Have a seat!"

Lance and Keith take the two available chairs while Shiro and Hunk stand behind them. Coran closes the door as he enters. He drops swiftly into his rolling desk chair, spinning around before arriving in front of his laptop. After finding what he's looking for, he spins it around for them to see and taps the spacebar.

Shiro recognizes the video immediately as the one he'd just seen on the news. This time it's on YouTube. After the initial shock, it takes almost no effort on his part to keep his inner turmoil to himself. He should consider being an actor with all the lying he has to do on the daily. Coran lets it play all the way through.

"Have you boys seen this yet? It's all over the internet. Pretty crazy stuff." Coran looks at them skeptically, but none of them give off any hint at recognition.

"Eh. Looks like a dumb prank to me." Lance shrugs.

"And you would know all about _dumb_ pranks." Keith mutters, receiving a glare from Lance.

Coran doesn't seem convinced as he types more into his computer, "So you don't know anything about that?"

Shiro shakes his head, "Never seen it. Is that all, because we're actually kind of busy -"

"I just need a couple more minutes of your time if you don't mind."

Shiro did mind, but he didn't say as much. Coran shows them his laptop again.

"Maybe you'll recognize this one." He says, pressing play.

This time, the video has a green overtone to it, indicating the events took place in the dark. Closer to the bottom left corner of the screen is a group of six guys, one clearly surrounded by five. They move quickly, throwing kicks and punches at the middle one, who appears to be losing in the beginning, until all of a sudden, every one of his strikes hit their target, sending them into various Halloween props and decorations. At one point, one of the guys charges right him, and without even laying a finger on him, he goes quite literally flying across the room. This time, it's a little harder to maintain his poker face, because the last one standing is so obviously Shiro that he doesn't even know whether it's worth it to try to deny the fact.

The others look stunned, leaning in a little closer.

Noticing their sudden interest, Coran drags the cursor back, "Let me play this part again, in case you missed it."

Again, Shiro uses his telekinesis to throw the other guy across the room. For Coran to play it again is to just rub the fact that he's been caught in his face.

"Interesting. Isn't it? Impossible, actually."

Shiro just glares at him, already planning their method of escape.

When he doesn't answer, Coran continues, "Although... Maybe impossible isn't the right word. No human could do anything like that, that's for sure. But maybe - perhaps - an... Altean?"

Talk. Flee. Or Fight. Those are his options. He can tell the others are waiting for his move from the way they're staring at him. Coran leans forward in his chair, hands folded together and rested on the desk expectantly. He didn't want to go directly to fighting, as that would draw unwanted attention. They could make a run for it, but Coran could always just call for backup and have them surrounded in a matter of seconds. Their only chance to make it out of this as if nothing had happened was to talk their way out.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Shiro says, deadpan, in one last attempt to convince Coran he's wrong. He's not surprised when that falls flat.

Coran raises an eyebrow, giving him a challenging look, "It's a shame to hear you've forgotten about your home planet. I guess I have more to teach you than I had originally thought."

"Wait, what?" That's not what he'd expected to hear.

"At first, it was just a feeling. Then, while I was reviewing the security footage from the night of Halloween, I came across this," He gestures towards the laptop, "I swiped the tape so nobody else would stumble upon it, but I decided to wait until I had more information to approach you. Then just today I came across the video of you on the beach, and I knew. I knew that you were the young boys who I had accompanied on the ship to Earth."

Shiro can feel his jaw hanging open, and something clicks inside his mind. He sees smoke, explosions, lasers. He sees a ship, and children - himself - climbing on board. And he sees a man go in right after. His hair is shorter, but no less orange. He glances back, and this time, instead of an unrecognizable blur, he sees Coran, closing the door behind him.

"I can't believe I never realized it."

"Wait, wait, wait. Shiro, are you sure we can trust this guy just because he says so?"

Before he can answer, Coran smiles warmly, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before two teal markings appear beneath his eyes.

The boys gasp, "You have the markings!" Hunk exclaims, "You must've been royalty, then. Right?"

Coran lets out a hearty laugh, "More like... honorary royalty. I took care of the young princess."

"So why were you the one to come with us?"

His expression grows somber, "I had worked closely with King Alfor on the production of the ship. It had always been meant for a trip to Earth, just not as hastily as we'd expected. I'd insisted King Alfor be the one to accompany you here, but he had refused. It was very noble of him to stay and fight for his planet, even if we all knew from the beginning we we're on the losing side of the battle."

They sit in silence for a minute, despite the storm of questions brewing in Shiro's mind. He vaguely remembers meeting King Alfor - a kind, powerful man with a head of white hair not unlike Shiro's, although due to age rather than some unknown reason. However, he can't remember what had made a young child like him important enough to meet the King of Altea. Or even what made him important enough to be one of the chosen Alteans to survive the Galran invasion.

"Why us? Why were we the only ones on that ship?" Shiro asks.

"We had known since you were all born that you had been touched by Altea's gifts. I assume you have already discovered some of your abilities?" They nod, "This is very rare for Alteans. Had Altea not been destroyed, you would have been trained to protect it, just as the paladins who came before you did."

"Paladins?"

Coran gives them a thoughtful look, "As much as I'd love to tell you more about your destiny. I believe we have more pressing matters to attend to. Yes?"

"We need to get that video off the internet. Completely."

All eyes go to Hunk, who puts his hands up in defeat, "Sorry, guys. My hacking expertise only goes so far. Wiping a video off the face of the Earth? That's going wayyy past it."

"What about Pidge?" Keith asks. Of course, she had been at the top of Shiro's list, but even before Coran interrupts he has a feeling asking her to help would not go over well considering the fact she seems to be ignoring them and that it would only lead to more secrets between them.

"Under no circumstances are we to involve Pidge in this situation. It's bad enough you've become such close friends already, I will not be responsible for including her in a fight that is not hers." Coran's tone is stern, making the news Shiro's about to break to him even more difficult to get out.

"About that... She's kind of already involved."

" _You told her_?"

"No! She doesn't know... yet." Shiro presses his fist to his mouth in guilt.

"Imagine we're on a sidewalk walking three miles an hour and Pidge is a mile behind us walking five miles an hour." Hunk says, using his hands to demonstrate his point.

Lance looks at him incredulously, "Thanks for the visual, Hunk."

"No problem."

Coran stands from his chair, pacing back and forth in what little distance there is between his desk and the wall, "How could you let this happen?"

They go over all the events that played a part in hinting to Pidge that the boys aren't who they say they are, Coran deflating a little more with every second to the point where he has to sit back down.

"So you're telling me, Katie Holt, the most intelligent human I have ever met and the one person I have sworn to protect with my life - is on the verge of a huge scientific breakthrough all because of a website you couldn't just leave alone? Not to mention she was held hostage?!" Coran manages to sound distressed and furious at the same time, causing Shiro to flinch at just about every word that comes out of his mouth. Shiro had already been through this spiel on his own enough times for the guilt to practically eat him alive. The worst part is, they weren't even able to get any information from the men in the house besides the fact that the Galra are near, and they're on the hunt, which is something they probably could've figured out not at the expense of their friend.

But one part of his rant sticks in Shiro's mind. "Holt?"

Coran's eyes snap to meet his, "That's all you heard? Yes. Katie Holt. Pidge's real name. I thought you knew this."

He'd known about Katie, yes, but he'd realized he'd never heard her last name before. Or has he? A memory flashes through his mind of him sitting in the front office on his first day, listening in to the argument happing in the next room over.

_"This is your_ last _chance, Holt. If I catch you even_ looking _at one of the Garrison's computers from across the room you're done."_

Shiro's eyes widen when something clicks in his brain, "Is she related to Samuel Holt?" This is his first time speaking the name out loud, but it had crossed his mind the seemingly hundreds of times he'd gone by that office, only for it to be locked. The name that belonged to the man he'd been looking for all along - came to the Garrison for - and he'd maybe had a direct link to him the whole time?

Coran sighs, "Her father. He'd been the man to greet us upon our arrival way back then. His connection to all this runs much deeper than even I had known. He had been the first - and only - human to have spoken with King Alfor. You remember him?"

The others seem interested in the answer as well, eyeing him with questioning looks for not ever mentioning the man before now,

"I don't... Not exactly. I'd come across his photo on the Garrison website when I was looking for a place to go. I knew I recognized him from somewhere, but I could never figure out where. That's one of the reasons why we came here. I was looking for him."

"There's a good chance you remember seeing him after getting off the ship."

"But I don't understand. Pidge's dad is dead. Does that mean... Is he alive?"

Coran looks down, "Unfortunately I do not know the answer to that question, but I strongly believe he was captured by the Galra for his immense knowledge of Altea, so there is a chance they are keeping him alive. I cannot say the same about her brother, though, who had worked closely along side his father on his Altean research. Who knows? It kills me to keep this information from Pidge. Seeing her so heartbroken after their disappearance, correct in her theories only to be told she was insane, it tore me apart."

"Why didn't you tell her?"

"I think you've seen firsthand why that's a bad idea. She would've left, gone to look for them. She would've gotten herself killed. Besides. Sam had worked so hard to keep his little girl out of this. Before he disappeared, he came to me. I think he knew what was going to happen. He made me promise to keep her safe..." He trails off for a second with a far away look in his eye, full of remorse. It doesn't last long though before he glares at them, "And I was doing a fine job until you quiznakers decided to get in the way!"

Lance looks confused for a moment before jumping on defensive mode, "Hey! It's not like we meant for any of that to happen! So why don't you shut your quiznak and -"

Shiro cuts him off by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think you're using that word correctly." Keith mutters, to which Lance just pouts.

"But is it really right to keep her in the dark about her family? She's not a little girl anymore. She's hurt and confused and she deserves to know the truth."

A heavy silence fills the room as Coran takes in his words. He twists the point of his mustache, his brows knitted together in contemplation He sighs in defeat, "What you say may be right. I've known her since she was just a baby, you know. And after -" He clears his throat, "After I had lost my son, and the princess... She became like one of my own in a way. I wouldn't feel right going against Sam's wishes after he risked so much to keep that part of his life hidden from her."

"If we can't ask her, then what do we do?" Lance tries steering the conversation back to the matter at hand.

Coran lowers his eyebrows in determination, "I guess Hunk will just have to give it his best shot."

Hunk visibly deflates, looking more uncertain than ever.

"Don't worry." Shiro says with as little doubt in his voice as he can muster, "We'll be there with you. Whatever you need, just ask."

"Think you can get me a miracle?"

* * *

They spend the entire day in Coran's office. At least they didn't have to worry about making it to any classes so they could dedicate all their time to their 'special project', as Coran likes to call it. If you could even consider sitting around and waiting for Hunk to make a request a special project. It reminded him of just a couple nights ago, when they had waited for Pidge to finish her own little hacking job. But Shiro had a feeling this was going to take much longer than six hours (and most likely wouldn't end in Hunk's disappearance).

While Coran stood close by to offer any technical assistance he could, Shiro, Keith, and Lance took turns running out of the office to get stuff for Hunk, whether it be snacks, a change of headband cause the stress caused him to sweat through his first, or even a pillow to scream in when he got stuck, which did happen at one point.

It's Shiro's turn, currently. He takes his time wandering the halls, wondering how his life had turned into one big waiting game. As scary as it was, a part of him even misses the thrill of rescuing Pidge. He doesn't want to admit it, but the adrenaline of rushing in there had him itching for a fight. He wanted to stay, to wait for the Galra to arrive so he could take them out - and he ponders on what would've happened if Pidge hadn't been there.

His powers are a flurry inside him, a storm waiting impatiently for its chance to wash everything away. As much as he knows that their peaceful waiting is a luxury they won't always have the privilege of, the urge to fight, to get his revenge for all the Galra has caused him and his friends is strong.

He's so caught up in his thoughts he realizes he had passed the doors to the cafeteria minutes ago, although he makes no effort to turn in the right direction. Instead, he finds himself back in front of the door he knows all too well. The door to Samuel Holt's office. Many times he had longed to go in there, locked away from the secrets within. It's been a while. And now, he may have the means to open it without an ID.

Looking from side to side to make sure nobody's there to catch him in the act, he focuses on the inner workings of the sliding metal door. Once he can get a grasp on the lock, he concentrates. It takes a minute or two, as part of his was distracted by the thought of someone showing up. But he smiles wide when he hears a swift 'click' noise and the door slides open. He quickly steps inside, making sure to close it behind him.

The office is unlike any other room he'd seen in the Garrison - more... Old fashioned, in a way. Classic. While most offices in the building would be white and modern looking, Sam's is made of a dark oak wood. His leather desk chair is old and worn, like it could fall apart at any second. Even the walls have some sort of forest green wallpaper stuck on them. But what really amazes him are the stacks and stacks of books littered throughout the space, and Shiro has a feeling Sam had read every single one of them. Why the Garrison hasn't taken it all down after so long is a question that lingers in his mind as he observes. Maybe Pidge had something to do with it.

He takes a step closer to the photos on the wall, running his fingers along the one's with a smiling Pidge in them. Her eyes are lit up in a way he's never truly seen, not even the night of Halloween before everything went down. She seems genuinely happy. It makes him want to do everything in his power to reunite her with her family, even if he doesn't know whether they're actually alive. He turns his attention to the other boy in the photos - Matt - who looks so much like Pidge it's a wonder they're not twins.

Again, he reprimands himself for not putting the pieces of Sam and Katie being related together sooner. Would things have gone any differently if he had known?

He sits down in the desk chair, cringing when a loud squeak breaks the otherwise silent office. The computer is the only thing that is even remotely new, the white rim contrasting the dark hues of everything else. He presses the on button, waiting through the powering on sequence only to be met with a blank space asking for a password. Of course.

Before he can even think to give up. he hears the swipe of an ID right outside the door - something he might not have picked up if his hearing wasn't above the average humans. The warning didn't matter, though, because the door slides open a second later, revealing Pidge.

Given the state they're in, he can't decide whether he'd rather have had Iverson walk through that door instead.

Initially, she's shocked to see him - maybe anyone for that matter - behind her father's desk, but that quickly disappears in favor of a harsh glare.

"How did you get in here?"

"The - the door was open." He almost face palms at the stupidity of his response.

She laughs without humor, rolling her eyes, "Another lie. I'm not surprised. Wasn't even a good one either."

He looks away.

She steps aside, gesturing behind her, "Whatever. Just get out."

When he doesn't move, she marches up to the opposite side of the desk, the door automatically closing in her absence, "Hello? Can you hear me? I told you to leave. I don't want you in here."

"Look, I'm sorry -"

"I don't care if you're sorry! All you've done is lie and keep secrets from me. Since the moment you got here! Why would I accept your apology?"

Shiro tries, he really does, to understand where she's coming from - and to an extent, he does. She has the right to be angry with him, with the world, but her anger is contagious. And mixed with the fact that he was all riled up to begin with - the storm inside begging to be released - it becomes too difficult to keep it all bottled up any longer.

He stands up in one sharp movement, leaning forward on his hands across the desk to mirror her, "I don't know! Maybe because I saved your ass not once, but twice since I've been here? Maybe give me some credit for that?"

"Both of those were your fault in the first place!"

"My fault? I told you not to go to that address. You _promised_ me you wouldn't go, but you went anyway! That was _stupid_ , Pidge. None of us would've been in that mess if it weren't for you!"

"Nobody said you had to go after me!"

He can't help but let out a harsh laugh at that, "Of course I had to go after you! If I'd showed up an hour later you probably would've been _dead_! Do you really need to prove a point so bad that you're willing to get killed?"

"It wasn't to prove a _point_ , Shiro. I was looking for answers! Answers that you won't give me!"

He runs his fingers through his hair in frustration, "Because I'm trying to protect you, Katie! I know you think you have to know everything, but there are just some things that you'd be better off not knowing!"

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't need your protection?"

"As many times as it takes for you to stop putting yourself in danger!"

"Why can't you just leave me _alone_?"

" _Because I care about you_!"

She closes what little space there is between them, pressing her lips against his. He doesn't hesitate respond, cupping her cheek to deepen the kiss. She clearly gets irritated by the desk between them, preventing them from getting any closer, so she hoists herself on top of it without even breaking away. She's nearly at his height now, and Shiro wastes no time in putting his free arm around her waist, pulling her closer. Her hands get tangled in his hair.

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't hoped this moment would come, but he definitely hadn't imagined it like this. There's still anger inside of him, both of them, which he supposes was the fuel for the moment. The kiss is rushed, like they're on a time limit and they're trying to fit in as much as they can before time runs out. Despite the butterflies having a party in his stomach, willing him to enjoy kissing the girl he'd been wanting for months now, the sinking feeling that things can't change lingers in the back of his mind. He still can't let her in - as much as he would like to - and she would still be angry. They're not supposed to work out.

They pull away, not far, just enough to catch their breath, their foreheads thumping together softly.

Her golden eyes flutter open, meeting his. It's like he can see the gears turning in her head, trying to figure him out like she always is. He wonders if they ever turn off. He looks away, grasping her wrists and slowly guiding them away from him. He doesn't let her obvious disappointment stop him, but he doesn't quite let go yet either.

"We can't." He tries to sound firm, but his voice doesn't come out in more than a whisper.

"Why? Why can't we?"

"You deserve better than this. Than _me_. There are so many other guys who are better for you than I am."

"But I don't like any of those other guys. I like _you_. Don't you want me to be happy?"

"More than anything."

"Then be with me. You make me happy, Shiro. Please."

He laughs, "We were just fighting a couple minutes ago because I made you angry."

"That's just because I'm stubborn and need to know everything. But I don't need to know anymore! No more questions. I promise."

He sighs, "But that's not fair. I'm not gonna ask you to stop being curious. That's who you are. That'd be like asking you to stop being yourself. I couldn't do that."

A tear slips down her cheek, which he reaches up to swipe away with his thumb. She takes his hand before he can pull away, holding it against her face.

"After I lost my dad and my brother I felt more alone than I ever had. Then you came along and suddenly I didn't feel alone anymore. I feel safe when I'm around you, and I know I don't appreciate it enough but I _do_! I need you, Shiro, I need you to be there and I need you to hold me. I can't feel alone again! I can't -"

Her tears are flowing faster now and he realizes he has a decision to make. Quite possibly the hardest one he's ever made.

It's Pidge or his friends - his mission.

As hard as he fights this internal battle, he knows there's only one choice, but it breaks him all the same.

"I'm sorry, Katie."

And he leaves her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment and let me know what you guys think so far! :))))


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A heart to heart.

Nearly an hour since he left, Shiro returns, and Lance has driven Keith to the edge of insanity.

So by the time the door to Coran's office slides open, Keith is ready, shooting out of his seat to stare Shiro down.

"Where have you been?"

Shiro's shoulders droop. Something obviously happened while he was out, but Keith is too annoyed to ask.

"I just needed to step out for a bit," he replies, tossing a couple snacks on the desk.

Hunk groans, linking his fingers together and stretching his arms high over his head and snatching a sandwich wrapped in plastic. Keith makes eye contact with him, silently making sure it's okay to take his own little break from the cramped room which seems to get smaller with every irritating comment Lance makes about some random girl in his classes. Hunk glances briefly towards Lance - who's too distracted trying to pick up a package of skittles with his feet to even notice - then back at Keith before giving him a nod.

He wastes no time in getting out of that room.

It's not that he can't handle Lance's antics - as he'd been doing his whole life - it's that ever since the day in the closet, when Keith had gained his first power and Lance had shown up to help, Keith has been feeling more confused than ever. And that says a lot coming from a guy who barely knows anything about his home planet. Or even himself.

No, it's not Lance's antics he can't handle. It's his own.

At one moment Lance's attention is all on him, seemingly interested, maybe even flirty, and then the next, Lance is fawning all over some random girl who passes by as if he never even existed in the first place. It's then when Keith realizes how clueless he is about all this relationship business, as he'd never allowed himself to think about anything besides the mission, or feel anything besides fear, and all he wants to do is let it all out. He needs to consult someone who knows what they're talking about, and what better person to go to than his only other friend in the Garrison, Pidge. He figures that if she's such a genius in the technology department, every other subject should come easy to her as well. (Little does he know, said genius' skills are limited strictly to books, and has little to no knowledge on human emotion, which can't easily be solved with a mere equation. Doesn't mean she won't try, though.)

So, he drags himself to her room.

Her door slides open after he knocks, but before she can tell him off, he holds up a finger, "I know you're mad at us but I'm not here to talk about that I just need to get something off my chest. Completely unrelated... About a guy... Lance. Please?"

Maybe it's the way his fists are clenched tightly at his sides, or the frantic, almost desperate look on his face that makes her features soften. He almost expects to receive a look of pity, but all he can find is understanding, and he finds himself relaxing a little. She steps aside.

He heads straight to her bed, flopping down so his head is in the middle and his legs hang off the end. She crawls up as well, laying her head next to his with her feet pointing in the opposite direction as his. She doesn't say anything, and he takes that as her way of letting him know she's listening.

So he begins.

The story just spills out of him, explaining their 'rivalry', the day in the closet, the flirting with girls, everything he can think of.

"It's all so confusing. And the thing is, I don't even completely know how _I_ feel. That day in the closet - when I thought he was gonna kiss me - I was prepared to kiss him back. I'd never felt that way before - seen him in that way. But then, other days, he's like, the most annoying person on the planet and I'd rather throw myself off the roof than spend another minute with him," he groans, running his fingers through his hair, "But deep down I know that's a lie because I wanna be around him all the time - even if he is annoying. I don't know. I just - I don't know... I don't think he thinks of me that way. Not seriously."

"I would have to disagree."

He turns his head to look at her, but she's staring intently at the ceiling, as if trying to solve a difficult equation.

"What do you mean?"

"Well - I'm not very good at this kind of thing, but the way I see it, Lance doesn't treat you the same way as he does Hunk or Shiro. Yeah, he flirts with girls a lot, but sometimes he'll say some stupid pick up line, and he'll look over at you, like he wants to see what your reaction is over anyone else's. Does that make sense?"

"What if he's just trying to irritate me?"

"Maybe. But I think there's more to it than that. I could be wrong - but really, I'm never wrong. What if he's just using the flirting as a cover up, because he actually likes you but he's too scared to say it? Or - what if he's trying to convince himself he doesn't like you because he doesn't wanna ruin the whole 'rivalry' thing you have? Maybe he's just as confused as you are. I don't know."

Keith sighs, "What do I do?"

Pidge smirks, "Well... As a scientist, when I have a hypothesis, the only way to find out if I'm right is to test it."

"Are you really comparing this to a science experiment?"

"It's what I do best. Everything has a scientific explanation, Keith," she says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"So you think I should just ask him how he feels?"

"It's definitely the most straightforward way to get an answer."

"What if he doesn't answer?"

"I don't know. My dad used to tell me - 'if you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great'."

"I don't think he was talking about confessing to a guy."

"Maybe not. But I think it could apply."

They sit in silence for a couple minutes, thinking things over. There's a lot that could go wrong with this plan. Keith could've daydreamed up the whole thing and end up embarrassing himself. Their friendship could be ruined and then what? They have no choice but to stick together. His mind wanders deep into the concept of running away, considering the risks. Yes, he'd be leaving his friends, but he could make more.

Keith scolds himself for even thinking those thoughts. Of course he wouldn't leave his friends over one stupid mistake.

_You're an adult, Keith. Act like one._

An image of Lance leaning in to kiss him makes its way into his mind and he blushes. He imagines Lance's beautiful tan skin against his pale complexion, his hands caressing his cheek, dragging lower, and lower, and lower until -

"Shiro and I kissed."

His little fantasy pops like a bubble. He ignores his flushed cheeks, propping himself up on his elbow to see her face. He didn't notice it before, but her eyes were red rimmed and puffy, as if she'd just finished crying not too long ago. Had they been like that when he'd gotten here? Was he too caught up in his own problems to notice she was in the middle of her own?

Guilt creeps into him. He shouldn't have gone to Pidge when he already knew that he was a part of her problems in the first place. Now he's just putting more on her plate when she shouldn't even care in the first place. If they're not going to let her in on their lives, why only concern her when they need something?

His emotions seem to go through a whirlwind before he can settle on a coherent thought. Initially, it was shock, but he knew it was bound to happen considering their whole dynamic going on since day one, so that passed quickly. Next came excitement, then dread, then just pure wonder.

"Are you okay?" Is all he can come up with in the moment.

She blinks the resurfacing tears away, refusing to let them escape. She lifts her hands in the air, curling them into fists before letting them fall back onto the bed in frustration.

"No! I'm not okay! We can't be together for some unknown reason that nobody will tell me, and even when I say I won't ask questions, when I say I don't wanna know anymore, he _still_ doesn't wanna be with me."

"But you still do wanna know."

"Of course I still wanna know! But I've had enough time to figure out that I care more about him - about all of you - to let that drive a wedge between us. You guys are my first real friends in a long time, maybe even my whole life. And I know my curiosity can be a bit much sometimes, that's on me, so if all I have to do is push my questions aside for a chance at a better life then so be it!"

"That can't be easy for you."

"It's not. Not at all. But it's what I want."

The fact that Pidge feels like she needs to balance herself out to reach any sort of happiness on account of them is sort of heartbreaking to Keith. No way should she have to tone down an entire part of herself just to be their friend, which he's sure crossed Shiro's mind as well. But she's never before shown any hint of being self conscious of herself - especially her strongest asset, her mind. Another wave of guilt passes through him. They just barged into her life like it was nothing and now it's taking a toll on her. No wonder Shiro rejected her, even if she was the only thing he was sure he wanted.

"Pidge..." He's about to let her down easy, tell her the same thing Shiro did and leave, but Shiro had always been the strongest of them all. Where he got it from, Keith is still trying to figure that out. But looking at Pidge's distraught expression, Keith realizes he does not have the strength to put her through a second rejection today. He can't imagine how hard it had to be for Shiro. The troubled expression on his features when he'd come back to Coran's office made so much more sense now, and here Keith was complaining about Lance.

_I'm such an idiot._

He knows what he's about to say is the complete wrong thing, and he's going to receive a lot of shit for this, but the look on her face is too hard to resist, so he asks anyway.

"Do you think you could help us out with something?"

* * *

The looks on his friends faces are nothing short of complete and utter bewilderment. Keith even needs to shut Lance's jaw for him before Pidge can see as she enters Coran's office. Hunk starts choking on his food, Coran patting him gently on the back while discreetly frowning at Keith, and Shiro - well, if looks could kill...

Pidge steps hesitantly into the office, immediately noticing the tension that sparked within the room at her arrival. She sneaks a quick glance at Shiro before looking to the rest of them, raising her hands in the air as if in surrender with a sheepish smile.

"No questions."

Hunks concern is soon replaced by a huge sigh of relief.

"I heard you need some help?" she asks, making her way around the desk.

Hunk sweeps her up, spinning her a circle before putting her down, giving her a grateful smile. Keith relaxes at Hunk's never ending welcoming nature. If only the other three would be so kind. He and Shiro have a stare down of sorts, and Keith knows he's in for a real treat the second Pidge leaves them alone. He tries to ignore that for the time being, turning back to the little genius.

"There's a video we need removed from - well - literally everywhere. Can you do that?"

She smirks at him, "Easy. I'm assuming I can't watch said video?"

"Nope."

Her eye twitches for a moment but her disappointment is gone just as fast as it arrived. She takes Hunk's place at the desk. Coran stands behind her, watching her every move and looking increasingly nervous the longer she sits at the computer, but from the way he doesn't intervene, Keith knows she's keeping her promise.

It takes her thirty minutes, tops, to delete the video off the internet entirely. Hunk is nothing short of amazed the entire time, studying her keystrokes thoughtfully, throwing in a question now and then, which she answers with a hint of excitement in her voice. The short thirty minutes feels like hours though, with the heavy aura of displeasure practically radiating off of Lance, Coran, and Shiro.

Normally, this might be a stunt that Lance would pull. It's highly unexpected for Keith to notice someone's emotions, and actually take them into consideration for planning his next move - especially when it comes at such a huge risk to their safety. Keith had always been more of a 'stick to the mission and don't let anyone get in the way' kind of guy. Even he was surprised by his actions. But as much as he tries, he can't seem to find any sliver of regret.

Pidge taps the keyboard a few times more before cracking her knuckles, "Done." She tightens her pony tail nervously before turning her attention away from the screen. Keith's about thank her when Hunk beats her to it.

"You just saved me an entire days worth of struggle in half an hour. You're a genius!"

She chuckles, "It's no big deal."

The silence sets in again, even heavier than before. Luckily, Hunk puts his hand on Pidge's shoulder guiding her towards the door.

"Come on, I'm starving, let's go get some food and you can tell me exactly how you did that. We'll meet up with you guys later."

Pidge glances back at them one last time before disappearing around the door. Hunk stays a couple seconds behind, shooting them all a glare, "Figure this out." He hisses, waving is pointer finger around in a circle. And soon enough, the moment Keith has been dreading arrives. He can't tell whether he's grateful to Hunk for getting Pidge out of there, or irritated. He takes a deep breath, mentally preparing himself.

Shiro stands with his arms crossed, "Explain."

"I'm sorry, okay? It all happened so fast, and we needed the help, and I couldn't bring myself to tell her we can't be friends anymore. She looked so fucking sad and alone, I had to make her feel like we needed her."

Lance scoffs, "Oh, so you _do_ have a heart?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Stop. That's not what this is about. You shouldn't have even been with her in the first place, Keith. What happened to giving her space?" Shiro's question sends a shock of anger through his veins.

" _Excuse me_? I should be asking you the same thing, considering you kissed her!"

" _What_?" Lance and Coran yell in unison. Shiro slaps a hand over his face.

"What did I tell you, Shiro, way back in the beginning? I told you this was gonna happen but you didn't do anything to stop it. And now she's torturing herself keeping all her questions bottled up inside just so she can be our friend because we were too careless to consider her feelings in all of this before she got too close."

"Look, I didn't mean for that to happen -"

"None of us meant for anything to happen! But it did. So what do we do now?"

"We could move again," Lance mutters in the window of silence.

The statement weighs heavily on the four. Keith hadn't thought of that before, the Garrison becoming more and more of his home throughout the months he'd stayed here, and he can tell the others feel the same. Not to mention Coran is here, and who knows if he'd be willing to part with this place - part with Pidge.

"That's crazy, Lance," Keith says.

"Is it? Is it really that crazy? We've done it before and for less, and now that someone is this close to figuring out our secret you want to _stay_?"

"I thought you loved being friends with Pidge!"

"Of course I do! But we all know what could happen if she finds out! We have a mission to do, in case you forgot!"

"Since when did _you_ start caring about the mission?"

"The second _you_ stopped!"

Keith doesn't realize until now that Lance had since gotten up from his seat and stands just inches away from him. Lance is maybe half an inch taller than Keith is, so it doesn't take much to meet his eyes, which are full of anger. But Keith can't help but notice he feels a little colder the closer Lance gets, as if Lance himself is radiating cold, but he doesn't think much of it. He notices the palms of his hands have lit up as well. It's a conflicting feeling, his insides warm while his skin grows colder.

Before he can respond, Shiro pushes them apart, visibly reacting to their clashing temperatures but not mentioning it.

"Enough! Fighting is getting us nowhere."

Lance swats his hand away, "Whatever, Shiro. I always thought you were smart enough to not let some girl get in the way of what we came here for, but I guess I was wrong. In fact, why don't we just broadcast to the world who we are since we're obviously not trying that hard to hide it anymore!"

Thunder rumbles from above as Shiro narrows his eyes at the both of them and Keith can tell he's trying to keep his cool, "We're done for now," he says, voice low, "Go back to your rooms and get a grip on your powers. We don't need anybody wondering why there's a walking air conditioner and space heater wandering around."

Lance pushes past him without another word, Keith close on his heels. They don't say anything to each other for the entire walk to their rooms, but instead of parting ways, Keith follows Lance into him and Hunk's room.

"Uh, your rooms next door."

"We need to talk." Keith closes the door behind him.

Lance scoffs, turning his attention to the pile of clothes on the floor instead of Keith, "I think we already covered everything."

"Not about that." Keith crosses his arms, "We need to talk about us."

This makes Lance pause. He stands up slowly, dropping the shirt he was holding back on the ground, fixing Keith with a hard, challenging stare, "What about _us_?"

Keith almost wavers, but he holds his ground, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that one minute you seem interested in me and the next you're fawning over some random girl you've never met before? I mean, what the hell is _that_? Are you _trying_ to be confusing?"

" _I'm_ being confusing? You're the one who acts all cold and heartless all the time! And then suddenly for a second you care? What am I supposed to think? Sometimes I can't tell if you like me or if you hate me!"

"Obviously I don't hate you, stupid!"

"See? There you go again! Can you for once just say outright what you're thinking instead of being so cryptic all the time?"

"You wanna know what I'm _thinking_?"

"Yes!"

"Fine! I fucking love you! Okay? I think I have for a long time now but I didn't realize it until that day I got my power. I hate seeing you flirt with other people because a part of me wishes you would flirt with me. And as annoying as you are I love every single thing about you and I'm sorry I ever made you feel like I hated you!"

Both of their eyes widen at Keith's confession. Apparently today Keith is coming to terms with all of his feelings, because never before has he been so open to anyone. On one hand, it feels as if a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. On the other, however, all he wants to to is run away and lock himself in his room for the rest of his life. He stays rooted in place, breathing hard, waiting for whatever answer Lance is forming behind those stunning eyes.

For once, Lance is speechless, which only worries Keith more. Lance always has something to say, whether it be a witty retort or a defensive statement there was always something coming out of his mouth. The lack of an answer makes Keith wonder if he made a mistake, and after a minute of silence, he can't take it anymore. He slams his fist into the button and leaves.

He drops his forehead against the wall of his own room, digging his hands into his hair.

" _Stupid_."

He doesn't even have a minute to wallow in self pity before a knock sounds at the door. He debates not opening it, but decides otherwise, opening the door to reveal none other than Lance, who wastes no time in putting his hands on Keith's hips and pulling him against him. Their lips meet in the middle, and Keith throws his arms around Lance's neck, pulling him closer.

Lance breaks away too soon, swiping a lock of Keith's hair behind his ear with a slight smile, "I'm sorry it took so long for me to say something. I'm not very good at this kind of thing."

"I thought you were Loverboy Lance, master of all things romance."

"I'll never forget you admitted that," Lance laughs, his expression turning serious, "But it's easy to flirt when it doesn't mean anything. It's different when it actually means something. When I thought I had no chance with you I tried to move on, but nothing I did could change how I felt. It's you, Keith, it was always you." He leans in, slower this time, and they kiss again and again.

Lance's fingers get tangled in the ends of Keith's hair, tickling his neck and his stomach flips. They move until Lance is pressed up against the wall, and Keith's mind short circuits when Lance's hands grasp the rim of his shirt, pulling it upwards until they have to break apart and Keith stands shirtless in front of him. A blast of cold runs over his skin when Lance's eyes rake over him, causing him to take a step back.

"Lance?"

The entire room has dropped a good ten degrees since Lance first entered. At first, Keith could handle it, too distracted by the boy to care, but Keith's heat based power makes him a little more susceptible to the cold than the average person, and it's slowly becoming too cold for him to ignore.

He wraps his arms around his bare chest as another wave of cold hits him. Lance doubles over, groaning and hugging himself. Keith snatches the blanket off his bunk, wrapping it tightly around him. Although it doesn't do much, Keith approaches him anyway, kneeling, only to realize Lance is shaking.

"I'm s - so c - c - cold," Lance stutters out, trying to warm himself. When Keith puts a hand on Lance's shoulder, he reels back, his hand nearly turning blue.

"Hey. L - listen to me. I'm right h - here, okay?" Keith is trying to keep from shivering himself, to be strong for Lance like he was for him.

"I f -feel numb." His voice shakes violently to the point where Keith can barely understand him.

He warms up his hands, the blue disappearing from the one that had touched Lance, and he imagines that heat spreading across his body until he's warmer. He tries again, wrapping himself and the blanket around Lance.

"You can do this. Close your eyes. Imagine it going away."

After some time of Keith's gentle whispers, Lance's shivers begin to calm down. His shaky hands reach around Keith's waist and he rests his cold head against Keith's warm chest, relaxing into his embrace. They stay that way a while until Keith can no longer stand behind hunched over. He unhooks Lance's hands from around his waist and guides the still shaky boy from the ground. He moves ever so slowly, as if he'd just been thawed from a block of ice.

Keith would've brought him up to his bed, but he wasn't sure Lance could be able to climb the ladder, so he borrows Shiro's bed instead, sure he wouldn't mind them borrowing it. For pure reasons of course.

Making sure Lance is settled first under the sheets, Keith crawls in from behind with his own blanket, covering as much of Lance's body as he can with his own.

Lance lets out a weak chuckle, "I m - must be a snowflake, cause I've fallen for you."

Keith is silent for a moment, processing the fact that Lance had just used a pick up line on him. When that sinks in, he bursts into laughter, which only boosts Lance's confidence.

"You're the hottest thing since sunburn." They're both laughing now.

"If kisses were snowflakes, I'd send you a blizzard."

They go on like this for who knows how long, laughing hysterically between pick up lines until they fall asleep.

It's not the way he had imagined their first time in bed together, but he can't say he'd wished it had gone any differently. Because they're here, now, together. And that's all he could ever ask for.


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing ever seems to go right.

The days pass by in a blur, Shiro might even consider them relatively normal.

Even Pidge, struggling as she may be with the whole not asking questions thing, finds time to join them almost daily, and seems genuinely happy to just have some company. Coran had been hesitant to let her continue to hang around now that he knows about the whole hostage situation and the kiss (as he has the right to be), but Shiro had convinced him that shutting her out completely would only make everything worse, and that they would do everything in their power to bring things back to normal. After that, Coran had pulled him aside, complementing him on how well he'd been able to handle all the shit thrown his way while still keeping the group together. Despite Shiro reminding him of all the times he'd failed, Coran had brushed him off, proceeding to give Shiro his 'blessing' in place of Pidge's fathers, to which Shiro quickly denied, stating it be best if they remained apart - not without turning into a blushing mess, of course.

Then there was Lance and Keith, who's dynamic haven't changed a bit, still messing around and bickering as always. Pidge had been ecstatic to discover Lance and Keith's new relationship. Shiro and Hunk on the other hand, weren't all that surprised. In fact, the only thing he hadn't anticipated was finding them in his bed upon his return. He wasn't sure how to feel about that at first, but he let it go after their very rushed, very flustered explanation, laughing it off and congratulating Lance on his newest ability.

It'd taken him a little while to get used to not freezing nearly everything he touched, but with Shiro's patient guidance, and Keith and Hunk's encouragement, he'd gotten the hang of it, priding himself on never needing to get ice ever again. Whatever makes him happy.

They find themselves sitting around a desk in the huge engineering room they'd all been astonished by when they'd first come to the Garrison. Shiro still finds himself mesmerized by the fighter jets that line the opposite side of the room, watching as engineers and pilots work together to test the machinery. Despite it being winter break for the students, the Garrison employees continue on their regular schedules, bustling about and doing their jobs, paying the group little attention as the girl tinkers away on a personal project of hers, a little robot she likes to call 'Rover'.

When he's not distracted by the movement around him, he studies Pidge as she focuses hard on her task. Her expression couldn't be any more adorable, eyebrows furrowed, nose crinkled as she bites her bottom lip in concentration. Her hands are incredibly steady, poking and prodding at the device in her hands. He wants to ask her to explain what she's doing, but he settles for simply observing the complex work.

Hunk on the other hand, is not so keen on sitting back and watching, picking up all sorts of parts and tools he's never seen, earning a swat on the hand each time, something Lance seems to find extremely funny.

"Hunk! Stop touching my equipment!"

"Sorry, sorry..." Hunk trails off, looking over her shoulder to see what she's typing, "You're not really double modulating right now, are you?"

She whirls around, fixing him with an exasperated stare, "And what's wrong with that?"

"It's weird. And unnecessary."

She pouts, "You can catch more mistakes this way."

"No way." He shakes his head, "You can catch the same amount of mistakes by just single modulating."

"You can catch these hands if you keep telling me what to do."

Hunk gasps dramatically before they descend into an argument full of words Shiro doesn't understand. Lance and Keith, hand in hand, are clearly just as lost as he is.

They're so immersed in their debate that they don't seen to notice the guy hesitantly approaching them. Lance notices first, jumping out of his seat to face him, alerting Keith and Shiro of his presence and they follow suit, trying to look as intimidating as possible. He takes a deep breath before closing the rest of the space between him and the group, glancing at the three before looking to Pidge. His composure is less nervous than Shiro had secretly hoped it would be, and more tired, like he hadn't gotten a good nights rest since Halloween.

He clears his throat. Pidge and Hunk's argument immediately comes to a halt when they find Rolo standing at the edge of the desk. To all of their surprise, she doesn't seem angry, only slightly inconvenienced at his arrival. She rolls her eyes at her little entourage, who are up and ready to get rid of Rolo the second she shows any sign of discomfort.

"Oh my god, sit down, you guys."

Shiro feels silly following her command just like that, but he does anyway, trying to make it obvious to her how much he disapproves. She pays his pouting no attention, though, focused intently on Rolo and what he has to say.

He hands her a piece of cardstock about the size of a birthday card, "Um, there's a party at my place tonight. You know, New Years Eve and all. You don't have to go - I mean, I understand why you wouldn't, but... I thought maybe I'd give you an invite just in case. Everyone's gonna be there. So... Yeah. I hope to see you there."

"Thanks," she responds, her tone light. He shoots them all a slight smile before leaving, and that's the end of it. No fights, or threats. Just a good, friendly invite.

"Sounds suspicious," Lance blurts after Rolo gets far enough away to hear them.

"I agree," Keith adds.

"Wait a minute. What if it really is just a normal party?" Pidge shrugs nonchalantly.

Shiro leans forward in his seat, "After everything this guy has done to you, you think this isn't some sort of set up? What makes you think he's just this good guy all of a sudden?"

"Because I talked to him. And I never said I thought he was a 'good guy', I just think that he's not trying to set us up."

Hunk holds up a finger, "Hold on. Back up. When did you talk to him?"

Shiro and the others look at her expectantly, wondering the same thing.

"Just a couple days after the whole conspiracy guys situation. It really wasn't a big deal. He just told me he was sorry for everything, and I could tell he really meant it. That doesn't necessarily excuse him for his behavior, but I think he knows what he did was wrong and wants to fix it."

She deflates a little at their silence, and not wanting a repeat of the night she'd gone off and gotten into trouble, she sighs, "Look, I'm not gonna go by myself. It wouldn't be any fun without you guys there anyway, so if you don't wanna go, we don't have to. All I'm saying is I think it could be fun."

The tip of her finger traces the edge of the desk while she avoids eye contact with them. The four seem to have a silent conversation around her, debating on whether they should go or not before they turn to Shiro, letting him make the final decision.

As much as he'd rather stay in tonight and bear no risk of any sort of trouble, he'd known from the moment Rolo walked away that they'd be going to that party. The first reason being Pidge knows how to get what she wants. The second being Shiro doesn't want to keep holding her back from having normal experiences. And the third being that they would have no trouble handling a group of college students, if it came down to it.

"Do you trust him?" Shiro asks.

She gives him a lopsided grin in response, "Sorta."

He can't help but laugh at that, "Then let's party."

* * *

"That is a big ass house."

They all nod in agreement at Lance's statement as they stare wide eyed at the mansion down the road, all except for Pidge, who, having been there plenty of times before, chuckles at their reaction.

"Yeah. It really explains the privileged douchebag persona." They all burst into laughter, the stress of the night wearing off as Shiro parks the car down the street.

The house is lit up from every window as far as Shiro can tell, and he's sure the music could be heard from at least a block away. As they get closer, the people dancing and passed out on the lawn become more clear to them. Some of them Shiro recognizes from a couple classes, others he's never seen before.

A blonde girl in a bikini top is the one to greet them at the front door. She pushes her chest out a little more at the sight of Shiro, giving him a wink, but all he can think about is how cold she must be in the heavily air conditioned house.

Pidge ushers them farther into the house, shooting the bikini girl a glare. They make their way through a crowd of people dancing to some techno song that sounds vaguely familiar until they end up in the kitchen. Some guys are already in there, mixing random foods and ingredients into a red solo cup and giving it to some poor freshman, chanting at him to drink.

Rolo appears out of nowhere, grabbing their attention away from the boy, who looks on the verge of tears.

"You made it!" His drunken state is obvious as he pulls Pidge into a quick hug, which is over before any of them can even react. He does the same with Hunk, then Lance, then Shiro, but Keith is ready, stepping out of the way before Rolo can lay a hand on him. Rolo doesn't even seem to notice.

Excitement flashes in his wide eyes, "There's someone who's been dying to see you, Pidge!"

He rushes off through the sliding glass door to the backyard, which is no less occupied than the front. The water from the pool shimmers from the various lights strewn about, reflecting onto the side of the house behind them, and Shiro can tell Lance is just itching to dive in. Beyond the fence is a narrow grove of trees leading off into the distance, barely enough to be considered a forest.

He whistles, waiting a couple seconds before a beagle comes racing towards him. Pidge's mood, which had seemingly gotten worse and worse the longer they were at the party, immediately shoots up at the sight of the dog.

With a gasp, she sits on her knees, "Hi, Bernie!" She laughs when he jumps up to lick her chin, "I missed you, too!"

Rolo, satisfied with his work, leaves her with the dog.

"Well, make yourselves at home. There's coolers all around, drink whatever you want. Don't break anything and HAVE FUN!" He screams that last part, cheers and shouts erupting from the people surrounding them on the porch. He leaves them in favor of some guys yelling at him to go play some game with them just as Pidge returns from her reunion with Rolo's dog.

"Come on! I'll show you around!" She yells over the music.

She shows them at least three living rooms, each the size of a small house on their own. She takes them to the basement, where it's much quieter, but the smell of weed is so strong they can't stay for longer than a couple minutes. Even the bathrooms are nothing short of luxurious. Next, they go upstairs, where a mob of people surround a guy with a VR headset, playing some sort of zombie game. They have to avoid most of the bedrooms, which have already been occupied by couples who wanted some privacy.

Not a minute after they return downstairs, Lance urges Keith to come with him to the pool. Keith groans, digging his heels into the floor, but ultimately, Lance wins, dragging him away.

A group of guys that Shiro recognizes as Rolo's friends approach them, inviting Shiro and Hunk to play a game of beer pong with them. They'd never played before, but that doesn't stop them from joining anyway.

"Okay, the game is simple," a guy who introduced himself as Michael goes over the rules. Shiro throws the first ball.

Hunk and Shiro prove to be naturals at the drinking game, winning every single game. This gets everyone's attention, gathering around to watch the two, pronouncing them the 'kings of beer pong'. Shiro hasn't drank enough to get drunk, it would take a lot more alcohol than even the most heavy weight human to achieve that state, but he can definitely feel himself loosening up and beginning to have fun.

The memory of the last party he'd been to flashes through his mind - his scar showing up, ruining everything. He pushes that thought far into the back of his mind.

Even Pidge seems impressed, which boosts his confidence by a mile. Every shot he makes goes right where he wants it too, earning a cheer from the crowd. The blonde girl wearing the bikini top comes over, shoving herself between him and Hunk, who rolls his eyes before continuing with the game.

She flips her hair over her shoulder, batting her eyes at him, "You're pretty good at this. Mind showing me your tricks?"

He leans away from her as much as he can while surrounded by a bunch of other people, "Uh. It's not really that hard..."

From the corner of his eye he sees Pidge weaving her way through the crowd, eventually disappearing. He politely excuses himself from the blonde to go after Pidge, but she grabs hold of his hand, pulling him in the opposite direction, away from the game.

"You can't leave yet! I never even got your name!" She pouts.

"It's Shiro."

She giggles, "I'm Marley, but you can call be Mar."

He's not paying any attention to her, scanning the crowd for a glimpse of Pidge's golden hair when a hand starts running up and down his arm.

"You look really hot in this shirt, by the way. Black suits you. And you can totally see your muscles through the sleeves." She stands on her tip toes to whisper in his ear, "Why don't you show me what you can do with that sexy metal arm you got there?"

He reels back, gently putting his hands on her shoulders and pushing her an arms length away, "Look, Marley -"

"Mar."

"Mar. Um, I'm not interested. Sorry."

She pouts again, "Why not? Is it because of that one girl you were with?"

"Yeah. Kinda."

"Ugh, really? Cause she's totally not your type."

He stops looking around, "Excuse me?"

She scoffs as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, "Duh. I've heard some weird things about that girl. And she's _so_ not pretty enough for you. Me on the other hand..." She snakes her arms around his neck, pressing her chest up against his. This is nothing like what it felt like when it was Pidge in this position. When it was her, a volcano of butterflies erupted in his stomach and all he wanted to do was pull her closer. Marley on the other hand, well, getting as far away from her as possible is at the top of his list right now.

Before either of them can do anything else, the door to the basement swings open, a cloud of thick smoke emerging. Rolo stumbles through, coughing and wheezing.

"Fire." He chokes out, not loud enough to get anyone's attention.

Just then, a group of guys come crashing through the doorway, practically trampling Rolo to the ground.

"FIRE!" They all scream, which does the trick. Everyone wastes no time in racing to the front door, pushing and screaming. It's utter chaos.

Shiro uses this moment to pull away from Marley, feeling an immediate sense of relief from getting away from her. He pushes through the mob, finding Rolo on the floor and lifting him up by the arm. His eyes flick left and right frantically before focusing on him.

"What happened?"

Rolo shakes his head, "I - I don't really know, man. I think some guys started it in the bathroom down there, doing some weird shit. I told them to be careful." He slaps his forehead, "I'm such an idiot."

Shiro has to stop halfway down the staircase to the basement, the flames already spreading throughout a majority of the room. Some of Rolo's friends show up at the top of the steps with pots and pans of water, but Shiro pushes them back.

"Get out of here, it's too late!"

He closes the door behind him even though he knows that won't do anything to slow the spread of flames. He looks around for Hunk, who was closest to him earlier, but he can't find him anywhere. Last he knew, Keith and Lance we're already outside, so that just leaves Pidge, who could be anywhere.

The crowds only slow him down as he tries pushing past them without getting carried away. He looks in the kitchen, the bathrooms, closets, every door he can open, but to no avail.

"Pidge!"

No answer.

The people have since gotten out, the fire now all over the entire right side of the house. He wants to go upstairs, but the flames have already enveloped his only way up. He can't hear anything but the sound of crackling music dying out and the roar of the fire, and he just has to assume, hope, she got out with everyone else.

He coughs, getting lower to the ground and running out of the house through the sliding door in the kitchen, making his way around to the front.

At least twenty student that he can see are on the phone, some with the fire department, others with their parents, crying over the fact that they almost died. Rolo runs past him, screaming for his dog, when Shiro grabs onto his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"Have you seen Pidge?"

He shakes his head, his eyes wet with tears, "No. I can't find Bernie either."

Shiro puts a firm hand on his shoulder, "Stay here and wait for the fire department, I'll look for them."

He sends a grateful nod his way before jogging to the street.

"Shiro!"

Lance, Keith, and Hunk rush over to him, looking completely unharmed, but Pidge isn't with them.

"Where is Pidge?"

"We haven't seen her."

Just then, a scream sounds from the top floor of the mansion, followed by a series of barks. Shiro doesn't think twice before running around the back of the house, ignoring his friends yelling his name behind him. He bursts through the back door easily, his strength working against the already weakened wood. He's immediately met with a face full of smoke, and he has to squint his eyes to see.

Covering his mouth with his shirt, he makes his way through the maze of flames as fast as he can. He takes in a deep breath, before releasing his shirt, climbing up the side of the crumbling staircase. The wooden banister snaps under his weight, and he manages to pull himself up just before it falls completely.

"Pidge!" He yells, his voice cracking.

A crash comes from one of the bathrooms down the hall. It's not Pidge's voice, but it's the only lead he has. He can only hope it's the right direction, or he might just run out of time.

His lungs burn with every breath, his skin feeling as if he's laid down on a stovetop, but he continues on until he reaches the bathroom. He kicks the door, once, twice, breaking it down. There, by the window, sits Pidge, holding Rolo's dog in her arms while trying to pull her shirt over her nose at the same time.

"Shiro," she croaks. She's not wearing any shoes.

He pulls her up, taking Bernie from her, holding him in one arm and taking her hand with the other. The doorway to the bathroom is already engulfed in flames by the time he turns around to lead them out, meaning their only other option is the window two stories above the ground.

Here's the choice again. The one that continuously pops up.

Pidge or the mission.

No question about it. He chooses Pidge.

Lucky for him, the bathroom faces the back of the house, and everyone is in the front, so at least he didn't have to risk revealing himself to every single person at the party.

He shoves the dog back into Pidge's arms, breaking the window with his elbow and knocking aside the remaining shards before turning back to the worried girl next to him.

"Do you trust me?"

She nods without even taking a second to think about it. He swoops her up in his arms, climbing out and onto the windowsill, balancing against the side of the house.

Pidge has a doubtful look on her face.

"Close your eyes."

She doesn't, but there's no time to ask again. He leaps, using his inhuman force to push them even farther away from the burning house, falling all the way into the trees. He turns so his back is towards the ground, hugging Pidge close to his chest as they hit the ground with a thud. They both cough, from the smoke and from the landing, which knocked the wind out of them, but they're alive, and they're safe.

Bernie hobbles away from them with a slight limp, making his way towards the front of the house.

It takes Shiro a little longer to recover from the impact, and when he finds the strength to prop himself up on his elbows, Pidge is staring at him, breathing heavily. He tries to reach for her, but she backs away, falling onto her butt. It's not just shock evident in her eyes. It's fear.

"Katie."

"What -" She bursts into a coughing fit, trying to speak without getting interrupted every syllable, "What _are_ you?"

"Listen. I'm - I'm not from here. This planet. Keith, Lance, Hunk, and I, we come from a planet called Altea. You were right. You were right about everything. I can explain it all later, I promise. Do you trust me?"

She takes longer to answer the question this time, both from the amount of coughing she's doing and the face that he's just told her information that pretty much changes her life. With that time, doubt easily settles into his brain, making him regret saying anything, even though there wasn't really much of a choice this time.

Eventually, though, she nods, "I believe you."

"You do?"

"Yes."

Ignoring the aching in his limbs, he lunges towards her, wrapping her in a tight hug. She buries her face in the crook of his neck.

"We have to go. I'm sure the others are worried about us. Are you okay? Can you walk?" He asks.

"Yeah. Just a little shaky."

He takes her trembling hands, helping her up. She wraps an arm around his waist to keep steady, and they make their way to the front of the house. Immediately, they're bombarded with questions from random people, to which Pidge can only cough in response. A cop parts the crowd, pulling the two away towards a reporter, who'd apparently shown up along with the fire department and everything else.

Lance, Keith, and Hunk are not far behind, no doubt listening in on their conversation.

"You good to answer some questions?" The cop asks. He has a bushy black mustache and sunken eyes, his voice is low and aggravated.

Shiro nods.

"What started the fire?"

"Some guys smoking in the basement."

"Were you one of those guys?"

"No."

"I was told she was stuck in there and you went in after her. That correct?"

"I found her stuck in the kitchen pantry. The fire hadn't gotten to her yet so I had some time to get her out."

The cop narrows his eyes, "Multiple witnesses report they heard a scream from the top floor of the house."

Shiro shakes his head, "She was downstairs, sir."

"Are you tryin' to tell me my witnesses lied?"

"I'm telling you all your witness are probably too drunk to be able to remember everything correctly."

The reporter shoves a microphone in his face, "Or are you just trying to cover something up?"

Shiro swats the microphone away, glaring at her, "What would I be trying to cover up?"

"You tell me."

"Enough," the cop grumbles, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Stop harassing the victims."

Pidge erupts in another coughing fit, this one worse than the last. Shiro shoot the cop a warning look as if to say, 'no more questions'.

The cop seems to understand, radioing for a paramedic before leaving them, dragging the reporter with him, much to her dismay.

Their friends run up to them the second they're out of earshot

"You guys okay?"

Pidge looks up at them with a weak smile on her face, "Peachy."

"What _really_ happened?" Keith asks.

Shiro gives them a brief overview of what happened, trying to fit in as much as possible before anyone else can get close enough to listen in and promising to explain more later.

"So... She knows." Lance states in a half-whisper.

"She knows." Shiro confirms.

"Happy New Year! You guys have got a _lot_ of explaining to do."


	10. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge goes home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy halloween! i'm updating two chapters today instead of one since i forgot to update yesterday and won't be updating tomorrow.  
> i hope you like them :)

Pidge falls back in her seat in disbelief, "Wow."

Coran puts a hand on her shoulder, "I know it's a lot to take in. It's okay if you need some time to process."

Her excitement gets the better of her, and before she can respond she begins to cough uncontrollably.

Last night, the doctor had told her the symptoms of smoke inhalation would most likely last a couple days, much to her annoyance. They let her go home, only after she got into a short argument with the cop, insisting she was good to go even though her occasional fits of coughing interrupted multiple times. Shiro had tried his best to convince her to spend the night in the hospital, just to be safe, but she wasn't having it. As a result, Shiro had taken her straight to her room the minute they arrived back at the Garrison. It was late, she was obviously tired, but she had too many questions to sleep. He didn't care though, promising her answers after she gets a good nights rest. Her frustration was short lived, though, as she fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow.

Early this morning, she'd woken up groggy, almost convinced the events of last night had been a dream, but the smoky smell of her hair and the burning in her lungs prove otherwise. As much as she'd wanted to go straight to the boys' rooms and wake them up, a shower definitely had to take the top spot on her to do list.

Her hair is still damp as she sits cross legged in Coran's desk chair. The five Alteans watch her with worried expressions has she seems to cough up a lung, which brings a blush to her cheeks but she can't get out the words to tell them off. Shiro sits directly across from her on the other side of the desk, while Lance sits on Keith's lap - after being pushed off a couple times - and Hunk leans against the wall near Coran.

Once she can finally breathe properly, she waves her hand, "Are you kidding? I don't need time, I need answers. I have a million questions!"

The guys chuckle at that, knowing fully well how many questions she's been keeping bottled up. Still feeling guilty about that, they figure it's the least they could do to spend however many hours it'll take to satisfy her curiosity.

"So this is the super secret project Dad and Matt were working on?"

Coran nods, "That's correct. King Alfor had come to Earth long ago. That's when he met Sam and Colleen. They didn't know at the time where he'd come from, but they'd shown him hospitality and kindness. When the time came for him to leave, he had promised to return the favor one day. He never got to." Coran looks at the floor solemnly, "Instead he had to ask for one more. Altea was being invaded by the Galra, and at a final attempt to save the Altean species, he sent myself, these four, and three others here, asking Sam to meet us and help us get settled somewhere safe, where the Galra wouldn't find us. And despite having started a family, he did. You were just a toddler by that time."

Pidge gasps in wonder, making eye contact with Shiro, "So... We've technically already met before."

He laughs, "Yeah. I haven't been able to remember much from our arrival, I think I was seven at the time, I don't know why I can't recall correctly, but sometimes I see glimpses. That's how I knew to come here. I somehow remembered your dad. I came looking for him."

She asks the most prominent question that's been on her mind all morning, "So you guys have... Superpowers?"

Lance cracks his knuckles, "Get a load of _this_!"

The temperature in the room drops a good ten degrees, sending chills down her spine. Keith pushes Lance off yet again, muttering something along the lines of 'I hate it when you do that'.

Something cold falls onto the tip of her nose, then another on her forehead, melting into a bead of water that runs down the length of her face. She laughs, holding out her hands to catch the falling snow coming from just above her head. It's been a while, since she's seen snow, and now Lance is making it appear out of nowhere.

"This totally defies every law of science ever," she says, catching a snowflake on her tongue.

"I can also breathe underwater, and I got some pretty cool telekinesis. No big deal."

"We all have telekinesis." Keith adds, pulling her attention away from the snow.

"What can you do?" She asks excitedly, bringing a smirk to Keith's face.

The snow melts, and as quickly as the room went cold, it goes hot. Keith's palms light up like flashlights and Pidge gasps with a slight cough.

"That day in class..." She trails off but Keith seems to understand what she's getting at and nods.

"Yup. Not an anxiety attack. Just had to get out of there before anyone freaked out over light coming from my hands."

Pidge furrows her eyebrows, crossing her arms, "Well now I feel silly."

Keith flicks the light off, "You shouldn't. You actually helped me a lot. I couldn't figure out how to turn them off until you came. Hence the gloves."

The thought of being of any help to them makes her feel a little better, but not enough to cover up the guilt at causing them more trouble than necessary. She pushes the feeling away, turning to Hunk expectantly.

At first, nothing happens. Soon enough, though, the ground beneath her begins to shake ever so softly. Her first instinct is to panic until she realizes that this wasn't some random coincidental earthquake, it's Hunk. She catches a pencil that rolls off the desk.

"That weird earthquake the news was going crazy about not that long ago? That was me discovering I could do this."

"That's amazing!" She urges him to do it again, uncrossing her legs to put her feet on the ground as it shakes and laughing herself into another round of coughing. Once that's over, she looks to Shiro with a sparkle in her eye, resting her elbows on the desk and propping her chin in her hands. She misses the blush that creeps onto his cheeks.

"Actually, besides telekinesis, I can't do anything else," he says, lifting the fallen pencil from between her fingers and spinning it in the air with his mind. She can tell he's trying not to sound disappointed, but the tone in his voice is unmistakable. The others even look a little guilty at his words, like they'd had any choice in the matter.

But Pidge is no less impressed. The way she looks at the floating pencil - a look they thought was reserved primarily for advanced technology - is full of wonder and amazement, and Shiro feels a little more at ease with his single ability.

Shiro can't hold back a smile. None of them can. Her excitement is contagious, but it doesn't last forever. The guilt settles back in her stomach, as well as a pressing question that pops into her head when she thinks back on Coran's words earlier.

She moves her gaze slowly from the flying object to the desk, frowning, "You're not safe, though. You came to Earth so the Galra wouldn't find you... But they have."

The energy in the room grows heavier at her statement.

"They're hunting us." Keith grumbles, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Is... Is that what happened to the other three? They were killed?" Pidge knows it's a sensitive question, but she's never been one to shy away from asking them.

They're silent for a moment until Hunk reaches down, pulling up his pantleg to reveal three circular scars, each with unique intricate designs, and she realizes none of them have actually ever worn anything but long pants. Now she knows why.

"When one of us is killed, the others get a scar on their leg. It's some sort of charm. It's the only way we know they're dead."

"Well you guys can beat them, right?"

The lack of an answer makes her realize they're wondering the same thing.

"Honestly... I don't know." Shiro runs a hand through his hair, "With only four of us against an entire alien race? The odds aren't really in our favor."

Pidge audibly gasps when she remembers something, "Wait here!" She orders, slipping out of the room. She runs through the hallways to her room. Breathing heavily - heavier than she would be if she hadn't inhaled so much smoke the night before - she digs frantically through her drawers. Eventually, she finds what she's looking for stuck between the pages of one of her textbooks.

Again, she runs through the hallways back to Coran's office, not without a couple of angry looks from Garrison staff as they jump out of her way to prevent being knocked over.

By the time she reaches her destination, she's doubled over, coughing and wheezing. Her lungs are practically on fire, but when approached to make sure she's not about to pass out, she waves her friends off, holding up the crumpled, yellow sticky note for them to focus on instead while she catches her breath.

All five of them read over the paper now in Shiro's hands.

THREE ELIMINATED

FOUR STILL ALIVE

ONE SPOTTED AT GARRISON - METAL ARM

A FIFTH? ? ?

She doesn't need to see it to know what it says - having stared blankly at it for hours upon hours, as if the words would magically clear everything up. But now it all makes sense, and maybe there's a positive side to her getting taken by two strange men that's she's almost one hundred percent sure work for the Galra now.

"Where did you get this?"

Her voice is hoarse and scratchy when she replies.

"I picked it up when I grabbed the gun in that disgusting basement - right before we escaped."

Shiro looks up from the note with an eyebrow raised, "The gun you pointed in my face?"

She rolls her eyes, "Don't act like you couldn't have stopped it."

He smirks at that and her mind short circuits for a moment.

Ever since that kiss - which she hasn't been able to get out of her mind since it happened - the butterflies in her stomach have been on a frenzy every time Shiro is even in the room. And every time she wants to hit her head against the wall for having thoughts and feelings that are a little more scandalous than she'd like. Sure, she's had boyfriends and crushes before, but this time was different, and she can't put her finger on why.

She can't help but wonder what happens now, now that they no longer have to keep their secret from her. It'd be crazy to think they'd never have to leave, but Pidge finds herself wishing they wouldn't anyway. Maybe she'd just have to find a way to make herself a big enough help that they couldn't leave without her.

But would she even be ready if she had to?

She shakes her head, tuning into the conversation going on between the Alteans in front of her.

"Any ideas on who it could be?"

Coran pinches the tip of his mustache, twisting it around between his fingers, "To my knowledge, you seven were the only ones who showed signs of having these abilities in your youth. And besides, there was nobody else on the ship that came here. Nobody else survived."

"What if someone did?" Hunk asks.

"I have no idea how they would've, but I suppose it's possible. There's also the chance they could be mistaken and it could be nothing."

"Well, true or not, we should keep an eye out. Anything that could help us beat the Galra is worth looking into."

Pidge asks the question that's been plaguing her mind since even before she met her friends,

"What about my dad?"

All eyes flick to her and she continues, "We don't know for sure if my dad and brother are dead, and they could be a _huge_ help. We have to go looking for them."

They look between one another, as if finding the right words to say without completely crushing her hopes while also making sure they don't get too high. Shiro steps forward.

"You're right, and we will. But we can't just go rushing in without knowing what we're up against, or where they are. But I promise you, we'll do everything we can to find them. I think we owe your family that much," he says with a small smile. His voice is sincere, and even though she'd rather just march out the Garrison's front doors and start her search, she knows he's right, and all she can do is trust him.

"I want to help."

Shiro frowns with a sigh. Before he can say anything, though, she continues, "I know it's dangerous, and I know I don't have any super cool powers or anything, but I _will not_ stand around and do nothing while you guys risk your lives to find _my_ family. You don't get a say in this. It's _my_ choice, I'm aware of the risks, and I'm going to help."

Coran lets out a heavy sigh, crossing his arms and leaning back on the desk, "I suppose it's time we go see your mother then." He pinches the bridge of his nose, "She's going to kill me."

* * *

Coran couldn't actually end up going, claiming he has a couple of meetings he needs to attend that day. Pidge isn't sure whether that's true, or if he's just not ready to face her mother, who can be even scarier than she can. Even Pidge isn't quite ready to see her again, but at the same time, she can't wait.

Ever since the news of her father and brothers disappearance, Pidge had been so focused on trying to prove them wrong, she'd completely forgotten to reach out to her mom throughout it all. After that, she'd been too ashamed to go back home. Afraid of both the guilt and the sadness that would tear through her upon her arrival.

Yeah, she's in a lot of trouble.

She explains this on the long trip to her house, which leads to the guys asking her more questions about her own life. She shares her favorite stories, the passengers of the car erupting into laugher more than once. Pidge tries to lock this moment into her mind before it ends and she finally has to face the inevitable.

It's nearly dinner time when they pull into the driveway of Pidge's home, and she finds herself wondering what her mother had made for herself. Her heart sinks at the thought of her eating alone for so many nights.

When they approach the door, Pidge fiddles with a loose panel, taking the spare key they'd always hidden there.

"I'm gonna go in first, there's a chance she might yell at me and... I don't really want you guys to see that."

She doesn't mention that she also doesn't want them to see her possibly break down - again - but she's not fooling anyone with the watery smile she gives them before stepping inside.

The door creaks loudly, triggering a bark from one end of the house and a startled 'hello' from the other room in a voice none other than her moms.

"Mom?"

She hears a clatter come from the kitchen before Colleen rushes to the doorway, pausing when she catches sight of her daughter. There's no chance for Pidge to say anything else before she's wrapped in her mothers strong embrace. At first, she's caught off guard, as she was expecting a scolding before anything else, but she recovers quickly, clinging on to her mom as tightly as possible. She realizes just how much she needed this, how much they both needed it.

A small, furry creature comes bounding down the staircase, jumping up and down against her legs in pure excitement. Pidge half laughs, half sobs at the sight of her dog, unable to pet her without her tongue getting in the way of Pidge's hand, now covered in slobber.

"I'm sorry I didn't come back sooner," Pidge cries into her moms shoulder.

"Oh, Honey," she sighs, holding Pidge tighter, "I know how hard it must've been for you. I'm just glad you're here now."

Pidge pulls away, wiping the tears off her face with her sleeve, "I know everything, Mom. I know what Matt and Dad were doing and why they disappeared."

Colleen looks taken aback, "What? How do you know about that?"

Pidge can't help but laugh at both the surprised look on her moms face and the crazy story she's about to tell.

"Well... I made some friends." She steps back towards the door, opening it to reveal the boys who'd flipped her world upside down.

The recognition on Colleens features is clear as day. Her hand flies up to cover her mouth, eyes watering all over again as the Alteans, now all grown up, step inside.

She approaches them slowly, as if she can't quite believe they're actually standing there in front of her. She moves from Hunk, to Lance, to Keith, pausing when she gets to Shiro. A hand moves to cradle his cheek in a motherly way, bringing a small smile to his face, and Pidge can tell he's starting to remember some things he'd long since forgotten.

"You can call me Shiro."

This sends Colleen into another fit of tears. Her free hand quickly brushes against Keith's cheek before she pulls the four into a group hug. The next couple of minutes are spent reintroducing themselves with their newest names before Pidge's mom quickly gathers them all into the kitchen, bombarding them with questions about their travels while she continues the meal she'd already started, adding extra ingredients for her unexpected guests.

"I'm sure you remember Bae Bae," Colleen says as the dog weaves her way around between everyone's legs, sniffing curiously at anything and everything. She's excited at having guests around, especially friendly with Hunk, who gives her plenty of attention, but always returning to Pidge's side, as if to guard her from whatever mild dangers she can smell. The energy in the old dog never fails to surprise her.

Pidge helps with dinner, also listening intently to the stories of their journey around the country. A small part of her feels jealous of their many adventures, even knowing fully well that it did not feel like an adventure to them, rather a chase, running for their lives.

Cooking with her mom again, listening to her melodic laugh, fills Pidge with a sense of nostalgia that leaves her wishing her father and brother could be there as well to make this the perfect night. She mentally shoves the creeping sorrow to the back of her mind, wanting to enjoy what she can now before the universe has the chance to send her life crashing down again.

Once the table is set and Pidge and Colleen finish their famous pasta dinner, everyone grabs a seat around the dining table. Pidge's mom takes her place at one end, Pidge and Shiro across from each other on either side, while Keith sits at the other end with Hunk sitting next to Pidge and Lance next to Shiro.

"I can't even begin to explain how good it is to see you boys again." Colleen sniffles, "If only Sam and Matt were here to see how much you've grown."

Pidge places her hand over her moms, who gives her a grateful smile before continuing her speech, "I'm so sorry you had to spend your lives in so many different homes. It killed my husband and I to send you off, and if it weren't for your safety, I would've raised you here myself. And after hearing where you've been through, I can't help but think that things would've been better for us all if we hadn't sent you away..." She trails off, looking down at her food.

Shiro shakes his head, "Colleen. You had your own family to look after. None of us have ever blamed you for how we've had to live. The only ones to blame are the Galra."

She straightens up in her seat, nodding to Shiro with a smile before lifting her glass of water in the air, "To the ones who couldn't be here today."

And they all dig in.


	11. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romance blossoms... again.

"Oh, believe me, Coran will be receiving a stern talking to then next time I see him," Colleen says, pointedly taking a bite of her pasta. They'd told her about all the events leading up to today, from Halloween to the fire, which had been prompted by Colleen's worry over Pidge's occasional coughing fit every time she laughed a little too hard. The mom hadn't failed to make some uncensored commentary along the way, that's for sure.

The table bursts into another round of laughter at the thought of Coran getting scolded like a child, but she just raises an eyebrow.

"I don't know why you're laughing, young lady. You're in just as much trouble as he is. Did I never teach you about walking into strangers houses?"

Pidge blushes, sinking down a little lower in her chair, "Can we talk about that later?" She mutters.

"Does after you do the dishes sound good to you?" Her mom shoots back with a wink and a playful smile.

Pidge just sticks her tongue out at her, gathering up some plates and heading into the kitchen. Colleen tries to stop Shiro from gathering up the rest and following her, but he insists.

"Nope. I'm helping. It's the least I can do."

Colleen releases her plate with a face not unlike Pidge's when she doesn't get what she wants, and he almost laughs at the similarities between the mother and daughter. He leaves the chatter of the dining room for the quiet clatter coming from the kitchen. The sight of Pidge attempting to climb up onto the counter to return a cup to it's rightful place sends his heart aflutter.

She doesn't notice him at first, and he swears his hand was supposed to land on her shoulder, but they're both startled when he actually places his hand on her hip, plucking the glass from her outstretched hand and putting the glass away for her.

He turns away nonchalantly to hide the blush creeping its way onto his cheeks, getting started on the chore at hand.

"Can't believe we still put the damn cups there..." Pidge mutters under her breath, but just loud enough for Shiro to hear with his above average hearing. He pretends he didn't though - for her sake.

They wash dishes in a comfortable silence, him rinsing and her loading them into the dishwasher. He watches the way her hair falls over her shoulder, and how she flips it back over again and again in frustration before finally digging through a random drawer and pulling it up into a pony tail. He watches her nose crinkle up whenever her fingers graze a dirty part on a plate, and he purposefully misses some more, just for the chance to see it again.

She catches him looking down at her more than once, not saying anything until they're on the last plate.

"What are you looking at?"

"You."

She nearly drops the plate she's holding and they both reach down to catch it. They're inches away now, and Shiro can't help but smile at Pidge's wide eyed look.

"Bae Bae, no!" Hunk scolds the dog from just outside the room.

She jumps away from him and into another round of coughing when the others enter the kitchen, Lance and Keith bickering over some random subject, and Shiro just snickers, unable to wipe the goofy grin off his face. It's quite an amusing feat, managing to fluster the sassy girl who always tries so hard to keep up her tough exterior.

"Well, I'm about ready to check in for the night," Pidge's mom yawns, "You're all welcome to stay, of course. Katie can show you where you can sleep." She wraps Pidge in a hug, kissing her cheek, "Love you, Honey. I'll see you all in the morning."

"Night, Mom," Pidge says, followed by a chorus of goodnights from Shiro and the others.

Once Pidge has managed to put herself back together, she wipes off her hands on her jeans before clasping them together behind her back.

"I don't know about you guys, but I don't really feel like going all the way back to the Garrison tonight."

He also gets the feeling she'd like to sleep in her own bed after so long, but she doesn't say it out loud. Luckily for her, the guys couldn't agree more, eager to sleep in a bed of higher quality than the ones provided at the Garrison.

Lance strokes his chin, making a big show of thinking it over, "Hm... Stay in Pidge's cozy home with her awesome mom who makes incredible food, or go back to the Garrison's horrifically lit hallways that totally wash out my complexion? It's a hard one, but my vote is for here."

Shiro finds himself nodding along, although probably not for the same exact reasons as Lance.

Pidge chuckles, punching Lance in the arm lightly, "You're such a goofball. Come on, I'll get you guys some other clothes."

She leads them back through the dining room and up the stairs. Shiro takes a look around the main level before they can make it all the way up. A part of him feels like he's seeing the place for the first time, while another part of him knows he's been here before from the familiarity of it all. A strong sense of deja vu seeps into his stomach. It's been so long. He should've remembered at least something of this place that had been such an important landmark in his journey, yet nothing had even come up before now, leaving him wondering what it was that made their minds block out the memories of their arrival.

The house is by no means huge - just enough space for a family of four plus a dog to live comfortably while able to have guests over every once in a while. There are photos all over the walls and at least one present on every surface, but he notices some standing frames turned down, probably a result of Colleen's long, lonely months spent alone.

As if on cue, Bae Bae nudges his feet with her nose and he corrects himself. Not completely alone.

He jogs his way up the rest of the stairs after having trailed behind the others, the dog right on his heels.

"Matt was kind of scrawny, but I'm sure between him and my dad there are plenty of t-shirts you guys could use." Pidge knocks softly on the door to her mom and dads room, waiting patiently for an answers before slipping in, closing the door behind her. He feels sort of guilty for listening in on their conversation, but he can't help overhearing, and he can tell by the silence of the others that they're tuning in as well.

They really need to learn a little about respecting others' privacy, especially considering the amount of secrets they keep on a daily basis.

At first, it's just Pidge asking for help looking through her fathers clothes for something that would fit them, specifically Shiro and Hunk.

"I can't believe I'm letting my daughter have a sleepover with four alien men," Colleen mutters through the sound of opening drawers.

"I _am_ an adult now, you know."

Colleen scoffs, "Barely. You're eighteen. I better not be finding one of them in your room in the morning."

Lance sends him a wink at this, to which Shiro just rolls his eyes.

Pidge lets out a noise between a laugh and a groan, "Mom!"

The two burst into giggles, "Which one should I be keeping an eye on?"

"Stop!"

"Is it Keith?"

"He's with Lance."

"Hunk?"

"No!"

Colleen pauses with a gasp, " _Shiro_?"

"Night, Mom!"

"Love you!"

The guys can barely contain their smirks and snickers at the duo when Pidge slams the door behind her, leaning her back against it with a sigh before retreating down the hall, arms full of clothes. She heads into a room, walls covered from ceiling to floor in space posters ranging from information on ships to alien artwork. The room is full of clutter, yet tidy, which makes him think this isn't Pidge's room, but Matt's. His theory is only confirmed when he notices a line of certificates and trophies on top a dresser, all with the name 'Matthew Holt' written on them.

A drawing on the wall catches his eye, and he instinctively moves toward it, leaning down to get a better look. It was obviously drawn by a little kid, with a limited amount of crayons, but the subject is still clear. To anyone else, this would just look like a regular person with oddly colored wrinkles, but Shiro knows better. This is a drawing of an Altean.

"I always wondered about that drawing," Pidge says from behind him, pulling him from his trance, "I would make fun of him for keeping it up, but he would just smirk in this 'I know something you don't' way and change the subject. I would get so mad." She trails off in some distant memory with a sad smile on her face before realizing she'd lost focus and holds out some clothes for him to take.

"These should fit. The pants might be a little short on you, though."

"Thanks."

She nods, avoiding eye contact with him. She steps through the door way, pointing them in the direction of the bathroom, the guest room, and her own room at the end of the hall, before saying goodnight and leaving them to change.

The sweatpants are indeed too short on him, sitting at least a couple inches over his ankle, which doesn't fail to bother him as he lies wide awake in Matt's bed. Hunk sleeps soundly next to him, having fallen asleep with no trouble almost an hour ago.

The pants aren't the only thing that prevent him from sleep though, as he continuously glances at the drawing of the Altean on the wall - a vile reminder that this bed belongs to a boy who could quite possibly be dead, all because of him.

He doesn't want to close his eyes, too afraid of what his dreams might bring him in the home of two people who'd risked their lives for him, and two who suffered as a result. He can't remember the last time he got a full nights sleep.

Once the hour mark passes, he slips out from under the blanket, padding lightly across the floor as to not wake Hunk. He closes the door with a soft 'click', pausing to listen for any other noises before continuing down the stairs. He doesn't know where he's going, exactly, just somewhere to pass the time.

There, sitting on the porch just outside the front window, sits Pidge, staring off into the neighborhood with a blank look on her face, as if lost in thought. He hesitates before going out there with her, wondering if maybe she'd wanted to be left alone in the first place, but ultimately decides to go anyway. He'd leave if he wasn't wanted.

Her head whirls in his direction the second the door closes behind him. There's a blanket wrapped around her small form, her legs crossed underneath her. Without a word, he sits next to her, using his legs to rock the swinging bench forward and back in a steady rhythm. Neither of them say anything for the first couple minutes, instead listening to the sounds of the nightlife around them and the soft creak of the wood under his bare feet.

"It's weird, coming back to a place you used to feel so comfortable in. After a certain point, it stops feeling like home, and you start to wonder if you even have one anymore," she says, although she doesn't sound sad, more like she's just stating a fact, "Do you ever imagine going back to Altea?"

"Sometimes. But it's like you said. I don't think it would feel like home anymore. I've spent more of my life here on Earth than there. I can't even remember what my house used to look like."

She's silent for a moment, considering what to say.

"Shiro?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to your arm?"

He feels like he should be surprised by her bluntness, but at this point, he sort of welcomes it. He'd gotten so used to people walking on eggshells around him, so scared of crossing a line that they never really bothered to get close enough to him to ask. If only there was a clear answer.

"I don't know. I've had it for as long as I can remember, and my hair wasn't always white either. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the Galra, though."

"Do you hate it?" She's looking at him now and he can't help but laugh at the questions that would definitely get her into some trouble if he'd been anyone else.

"Only when it draws unwanted attention."

She blushes and looks down at her hands in her lap, "Sorry."

"Don't be. Your attention is always welcome." He hold his prosthetic hand out in front of him, balling it into a fist, "Do _you_ hate it?"

She shakes her head quickly, "No! I think it's probably the coolest thing ever."

He laughs again, "Then feel free to look at it whenever you want."

Her eyes seem to sparkle at that, but when she catches him staring at her again she huffs and crosses her arms, "Stop doing that."

"Stop doing what?"

"Acting all interested in me."

"What if I'm not acting?"

"Well -" She pauses, trying to find a good argument, "You don't get to be interested in me."

"Why not?"

"Because you rejected me. You don't get to reject me and then want me all of a sudden. That's not fair."

"You're right."

She stands up angrily, pacing back and forth with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a cape, "And then you keep messing with me, like in the kitchen. Touching me, and staring at me, messing with my head. It's annoying."

"I'm sorry. I'll stop," he says, leaning forward to prop his elbows on his knees.

She comes to a halt directly in front of him, "But I don't _want_ you to stop."

"Well the last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable, so you have to tell me what you want."

"I want you!"

He grabs the blanket, pulling her towards him until their noses are nearly touching. Even standing she doesn't have much height over him.

"Are you gonna make it a habit of arguing with me before we kiss?" He mutters against her lips with a playful smile.

She frowns, pulling away and marching towards the door dramatically, "Can't make it a habit if we don't actually kiss," she says with a matter of fact tone, closing the door behind her.

He chases after her with a laugh. By the time he makes it inside she's already halfway up the stairs. He steps on the blanket dragging behind her to keep her from going any farther up, grabbing Pidge's hand and spinning her around to kiss her.

The kiss is soft and slow, unlike their first, because this time, they both know it won't be their last, so there's no need to rush.

All tangled up in the blanket around her, she attempts to move her arms but to no avail, giggling against his lips. She loses her footing in her struggle to free herself from her cocoon while also trying not to break the kiss, and she would've tumbled down the stairs in Shiro hadn't caught her just in time.

The kiss is awkward and broken as they both try their hardest not to burst out laughing and wake up the entire house, but it's no less perfect. At the same time she finally gets her arms free to wrap them around his neck, he lifts her up, walking back into the living room and plopping her down on the couch.

"Shh!" She warns through quiet laughter as he falls on top of her, peppering her with small kisses before burying his face in her neck. Days worth of exhaustion catches up to him, his limbs feeling tired and heavy.

He begins to think he could fall asleep when she taps him on the shoulder, "Hey. Don't fall asleep. My mom's gonna see when she wakes up."

This only makes him hug her closer, "She already knows you have a big crush on me anyway."

"How did you -" She gasps, slapping his arm, "Were you eavesdropping on our conversation?"

He lifts his head to look her in the eyes, pretending to be hurt, "I'll have you know I was not eavesdropping. I just happen to have been born with better hearing than humans."

She covers her eyes with a groan, "That's so embarrassing."

"It was adorable." Kissing her cheek, he rests his head down on the pillow beneath them.

She ponders for a moment, "You can't read my thoughts, can you?"

"Why? Are you thinking things you wouldn't want me to know?"

"No."

"Liar."

"Shut up."

She wiggles out from underneath him, which is no easy task considering he has to be nearly double her weight, but he makes no effort in helping her. After a couple minutes of her struggling, the blanket is eventually draped over the both of them and she can finally relax against Shiro's chest.

It doesn't take long of him running his fingers through her hair, listening to the sound of her breathing, before falling into a long, dreamless sleep.

* * *

"- you kidding? He hasn't gotten an actual night of sleep for months. I would know, since I share a room with him. And Pidge will kill you. Do not even think about waking them up," Keith whisper yells from maybe a foot away from where they sleep on the couch. Shiro had ended up on his back, an arm wrapped around Pidge's waist, who lies on top of him, using his chest as a pillow.

When his eyes open for the first time this morning, he's met with a perfect view of Lance's face leaning over him. Shiro narrows his eyes at him, challenging him to make a comment, which he takes with a smirk.

"Good morning, Romeo."

Now it's a well known fact that Pidge is not a morning person. She doesn't often join them for breakfast at the Garrison, but when she does, well, it's better you leave her be until she's fully ready to start the day. So it's no surprise to Shiro when Lance, knowing fully well the consequences of his actions, receives a hard kick to the shin for waking her up.

"Ow! What was that for?" Lance yelps, hopping up and down while clutching his injured leg. Shiro knows he's just being dramatic though.

Keith just crosses his arms, "I told you."

Pidge doesn't answer, rather pulling the blanket tighter around herself and turning her head in the other direction with a sigh and a cough. From this angle, he can only see the top of her head and the tip of her nose. He uses the moment before she falls asleep again to shift out from under her. She lifts her head to look at him as he pulls away, eyelids heavy and full of annoyance, but also disappointment, as if she wishes he'd stay longer. All he can do is give her a soft smile in return before she settles back in to the crook of the couch to continue her sleep.

Giving her sleeping figure one last glance, he straightens up to meet the teasing gazes of Keith and Lance with a raised eyebrow and a smirk, playing it off like what they'd woken up to was completely normal.

"Hunk and Colleen are making breakfast," Keith says, keeping his voice low to avoid getting kicked like Lance had.

No use delaying the inevitable. Leaving Pidge alone on the couch, Shiro makes his way into the kitchen.

The room is a mess of spatulas and measuring cups, speckles of flour spread all along the countertop. The smell of blueberry hits him the second he rounds the corner just as Hunk flips a pancake high into the air before catching it flawlessly in his pan. Unlike the other four in the house, Hunk and Colleen are already dressed and ready for the day, light conversation passing between the two as they prepare the meal.

The time on the microwave reads 8:42. He can't remember the last time he'd been asleep later than four in the morning. He feels rejuvenated.

Hunk and Colleen go silent when he enters, pausing their current tasks in favor of fixing him with some odd looks he can't quite decipher. It'd been easy to get past Lance and Keith's teasing eyes. There's nothing for him to be embarrassed about, after all. But when it comes to Pidge's mother, that's a different story. He tries to keep his cool, despite the heat creeping slowly onto his cheeks.

"Good morning," he says casually. The cuffs of his too small sweatpants scratching against his skin suddenly become a lot harder to ignore as he walks through the kitchen, Colleen's sly eyes never leaving him as he goes to stand directly across from her.

"Good morning, Shiro," she responds. They mirror each other from opposite sides of the kitchen, arms crossed, leaning back against the countertops, one ankle over the other. The others watch them with amusement, curious to see where this might go. Even Bae Bae sits quietly at Hunks feet, taking a break from begging for some of the food.

"You've grown into a fine young man, Shiro. I can tell. I've chosen to trust you with my daughter." She pauses, pointing the wooden spoon in her hand towards him before he can say anything, " _But_ I'm gonna get straight to the point here and voice my concerns. Obviously whatever I tell her to do she's just going to find a way to do what she wants because she's stubborn - like me. And even being around you boys puts her in a dangerous position. So I need you to assure me that, no matter what, you will do everything in your power to make sure she is safe, and if you go into a situation where that is not a guarantee, you will not bring her with. Am I clear?"

Of course, he'd had these concerns before as well. Every time Pidge is around, in fact. So the sincerity in his words is easy to find when he says them.

"Trust me. There's nothing I want more than for Katie to be safe. I'll make sure nothing happens to her."

_Starting now._

He wonders if he's being selfish. How can he truly promise to keep her safe while still being around her? Trick question, it's impossible, and Colleen knows this. He'd already been the cause for the disappearance of her husband and son.

Is she really willing to give her daughter up as well?

Will Pidge even give her a choice?

From the way her firm demeanor wavers for a split second at his words, he can tell how much she wishes she could fully believe that her daughter will be safe. Maybe in some cases Pidge _would_ be safer surrounded by the Alteans, but in others, there was no denying that the four are just magnets for danger, an accident waiting to happen.

"The second she gets put in harms way, she's out. I don't care how much she wants to stay. She's coming home."

Shiro nods, "Understood."

She stares at him hard for another couple seconds before dropping the harsh manner, replacing it with a hand to her forehead and a defeated sigh, "I'm a horrible mother for this."

_And I'm going to be a horrible boyfriend._

He moves to stand next to her, both of them staring down at the ground.

"It's a hard situation. It feels like there's no right choice. But if it's any consolation," he looks from his friends then back to her, "we all think you're an incredible mother, no matter what you decide."

She chokes back a sob, covering her mouth with her hand while tears spill from her eyes. She doesn't say anything, just pulls the four of them into a tight hug. After that, she gets right back to work as if nothing had happened. Hunk returns to his now overcooked pancakes, and Shiro, Lance, and Keith pitch in whenever they can.

"Shiro, go get Katie, would you? Breakfast is almost ready."

He drops a dirty bowl in the sink that he'd been using before exiting the kitchen.

He crouches back on his heels in front of the sleeping girl, who's face is currently buried in the couch cushions to block out the sunlight. She's facing away from him, and when his first attempt at waking her up with a gentle shake to her shoulder fails to wake her, he tries something else. The pony tail she'd put in last night has since come loose, which he moves out of the way to place a soft kiss at the base of her neck. This seems to do the trick.

She tenses up, flipping over to meet his eye with a tired look in her own. She lets out a deep sigh through a tiny smile, pinching a clump of his shirt with the tips of her fingers to guide him closer. Their lips meet for a brief second before he pulls away, not wanting to get sucked back in to Pidge's warm embrace just yet.

"Breakfast is ready."

She groans, pulling the blanket over her head, "I'm not getting up."

"You have to," he chuckles.

"You can't make me."

"I think you know fully well that I can."

The blanket she'd been clutching so tightly on to floats just inches above her, and when she tries to grab for it, he only lifts it higher. She huffs in determination, leaping up to snatch it from the air, but to no avail. They're both standing now, Pidge on the couch just underneath the blanket, arms grossed and glaring at him. He can only smile in return.

"No fair," she grumbles, hopping off the couch and heading towards the dining room where the others have already taken their seats.

Pidge plops down grumpily in her designated chair, but her eyes seem to light up a bit when she spots the jar of peanut butter next to her stack of pancakes.

"Nice of you to finally join us," Colleen teases.

Before she can bring up what's really on her mind, though, Pidge beats her to it.

"You said no boys in my room. You didn't say anything about the couch."

"Don't be a smart ass, Katie Marie Holt."

Pidge smirks at her mother, "I learned from the best."

Suddenly, a loose blueberry goes flying from Pidge's spoon, hitting Colleen right on the forehead. The table is silent, save for Pidge's muffled giggles that she tries to hide behind her hand. One second, Colleen looks angry, and Shiro worries Pidge might've just gotten herself into some big trouble. The next, Colleen's frown morphs into a shit eating grin of her own, plunging a finger into the jar of peanut butter and wiping it on the tip of her daughter's nose.

Then, chaos ensues.

A missed shot results in Lance getting hit with a sausage, and he immediately joins in, smashing his syrup covered pancake in Keith's face before he can even see it coming. Keith retaliates with a flick of his head, using his telekinesis to shove a stick of quickly melting butter down his shirt. Hunk and Shiro laugh at that, but they're not laughing for long when the couple makes them their next target.

Shiro worries briefly about the state of the Holt's dining room, but when he looks to Colleen, covered in sticky syrup yet laughing uncontrollably seemingly without a care in the world, he lets his worry go. He wonders how long it's been since she'd gotten to laugh like that.

Even Bae Bae is having fun, gobbling up all the food that falls on the floor.

Yeah, they could worry about cleaning up later.

Between rounds of firing pieces of fruit at Hunk and Keith, a peanut butter covered pancake plops straight into Shiro's lap, which could only come from Pidge herself. They both seem to notice the lone glass of orange juice between them. Knowing what's coming, she quickly reaches for the glass, but she's too late as it already hovers over her head.

"Don't do it, Shiro."

His eyes flick from her, to the juice, a mischievous grin on his handsome features. If it were any other situation, she might have gotten lost in that smile, but this is war, and she's nothing if not clever. The next time his attention goes back to the cup, she takes the opportunity to reach up and grab it. He's so caught off guard he loses his hold on it for a split second, but the damage is already done. He'd given her just enough time to turn the tides in her favor, and the next thing he knows, his hair and shirt are soaked in orange juice. Despite this fact, he can't help but be slightly impressed by her victory over him.

Eventually the nonsense dies down, resulting in a fit of laughter as they all work together to clean up the warzone that is the Holt's dining room, including Bae Bae. As they clean, they take turns going upstairs to shower off the various foods stuck on their skin and in their hair. Once it's Shiro's turn to head upstairs, he pulls off his unbearably sticky t-shirt and wrings out the excess orange juice over Pidge's head for good measure before she chases him to the bottom of the stairs, yelling all sorts of obscenities behind him.

Pidge is the last to take a shower, as she'd been the one to start the little food fight at breakfast. While she's gone, and her mother and the Alteans are just finishing scrubbing off the last of the syrup that had ended up on the walls, Colleen's cell phone begins to ring.

Although he can't quite catch what's being said from whoever is on the phone, Colleen's tone is enough to send him into a state of worry.

"Are you sure it's them?"

Pause.

"What are they doing?"

Pause.

"Is there anyone in the building?"

They all look between one another at that point, and he can tell they're thinking the worst, just as he is.

"Okay. I'll tell them. Thanks. Bye."

Colleen emerges from the living room with a frown.

"The Galra are on their way to the Garrison."


	12. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you all had a fun halloween! please enjoy this next chapter :))

The lighthearted mood that had once filled the room goes heavy. Shiro hardens his expression in order to hide the disappointment he feels at having to end their trip on such bad terms.

Just then, Pidge arrives at the top of the stairs in a fresh pair of sweatpants and a loose green top that shows off her belly button. She immediately notices the sour mood.

"What's wrong?"

"Iverson called. A Galran ship was spotted about five miles from the Garrison. They're evacuating as we speak."

At first, Pidge looks offended, "Iverson knows too? Did everybody know about this but me?" She pauses, looking up to the ceiling with a deep breath and a cough. She'd been coughing a lot less today, but the effects of the fire haven't fully left her body. "Whatever. Doesn't matter. We need to go then, right? Stop them from destroying the Garrison?"

Her mom visibly tenses at Pidge's use of the word 'we', as if she automatically assumed she would be going. As much as Shiro hates the thought of leaving her behind and not being able to protect her at all times, he's not sure what exactly they'll be facing when they reach the Garrison, or if they're even ready for it. Colleen had already lost two of her family members to the Galra and he'd done nothing to help. This time he can do something.

"We're going. As in Hunk, Lance, Keith, and I. You're staying here, Pidge."

From the corner of his eye he can see Colleen relax slightly, giving him a grateful look, but he keeps his focus on the girl in front of him, who's heart he can practically feel breaking. Or maybe that's his own.

"What?"

He expects there to be fury in her voice, but there's nothing more than hurt, which makes it even harder for him to stick to his decision. It's for her own safety. He repeats this fact in his head over and over again to prevent him from changing his mind.

"We don't know what's going to happen out there. I'd rather you stay here, where it's safe."

She opens her mouth to respond, the familiar look of anger that he'd expected earlier returning to her face. He put's his hands firm on her shoulders, interrupting whatever she was about to say.

"Please don't argue with me about this. I know you're capable of taking care of yourself, but I'm not even sure _I'm_ completely ready for this. We'll come back for you. I promise."

As hard as she tries to maintain her anger, the tough wall she likes to put up breaks. She must've noticed the desperation in his voice.

She pulls something from her back pocket and presses it into his palm, "Find Rover if you can, he can help."

He pulls her close, wrapping her into a hug. If it's too tight, she doesn't mention it, instead, she tells him to stay safe, even though they both know that's not really an option. She does the same with Keith, then Lance, then Hunk. Nobody cries.

_This isn't the end_ , he promises himself.

They load into the van in the driveway as Pidge stands off to the side, hugging herself. Shiro's just about to pull away when Colleen comes running out of the house, Bae Bae on her heels. It's windy, enough to send her staggering to the side before regaining her balance. The sky turns a light shade of grey, blocking out the sun. It seems the weather decided to match the overall atmosphere of the day.

Hunk rolls down the passenger side window as she approaches.

"Take Bae Bae with you!"

" _What_?" Pidge screams in disbelief.

Hunk glances knowingly down to the dog and back up to Colleen, "You sure?"

She nods, "You need her more than we do."

Pidge squeezes in next to her mom, "You don't wanna bring _me_ but you'll take my _dog_?"

Just then, Bae Bae barks, leaping in the air. Her figure morphs into that of an eagle, flying in through the open window and onto Hunk's shoulder.

Pidge stands there with her mouth slightly agape, "Point taken."

"Keep them safe," Colleen says, directed at Bae Bae, who squawks in return.

And they pull out of the driveway.

* * *

The storm continues to grow the farther they get from Pidge's house. The closer they get to the Garrison. To the Galra.

Thunder booms overhead, as it had been for a while now, and every time it seems to resonate inside his body just beneath the surface of his chest and in his stomach. He passes it off as anticipation, unknowing.

At one point Bae Bae - still in eagle form - pecked violently at the window, opting to fly ahead when they almost ten minutes from the Garrison. Once they arrived at the front of the building, they found her circling high above.

From their vantage point, the height of the Garrison walls blocks their view of the Galran ship parked on the other side. From what they can see, which is pretty much an empty parking lot, all they really know is that there are no humans inside the Garrison. If only they knew the same of the Galra.

Bae Bae soars down to perch on Hunk's shoulder. Her landing looks as graceful as ever, yet Hunk stumbles back as if he'd been hit head on.

"Whoa."

Lance tilts his head to the side, "You good, buddy?"

Suddenly, Hunk slaps his palm on his forehead, not in pain, though, more like astonishment.

"Guys, I - I think Bae Bae's talking to me."

The bird just chirps, flicking her head from side to side.

"Maybe a new ability," Shiro says to him with a pat on the shoulder, "What's she saying?"

Hunk closes his eyes in concentration, "She says there's a couple hundred standing outside the ship. They're preparing to spread out. If we go in there - we'll be surrounded. And that's not to mention the Galra that have already gone inside."

"You think they're looking for us?" Keith asks.

"What if they're looking for our chests?" Lance answers with another question.

To be honest, Shiro had almost completely forgotten about their chests until now. Probably on account of them being nothing but dead weight for them on their journey so far, but he has no doubt they're something of importance. He wouldn't be surprised if the Galra wants them - and if they do, maybe they know what's inside.

"Okay. As far as we know, the Galra aren't on Earth to destroy anything, if that were the case, they would have already. They want us and our chests. I think our best bet is to get in, get our chests, and get out unseen. Maybe if they don't find anything, they'll just leave."

"I don't know..." Hunk trails off, "By the looks of those guns I don't think they were planning on leaving the place in tact."

"What guns?"

Hunk points to the left side of the building where a squad of Galra begin to round the corner, "Those guns."

Shiro ducks down, the others following suit and Bae Bae morphing into a mouse to scurry onto Hunk's head. They make their way to the front doors. A similar group of Galra approach from the right side as well, giving them little time to get in the building unseen.

Using his telekinesis, Shiro finds the lock on the sliding glass doors, listening for the click and prying them open with his mind, allowing them to slip inside unnoticed.

The front office is dark, save for the small about of light peeking through the dark clouds above them. Through the second set of glass doors beyond the office, the hallway only manages to get darker. The power in the Garrison had been turned off.

They sneak through, making their way towards their rooms as quickly and silently as possible. When it gets too dark to see, Keith turns on one of his palms, bright enough to see the floor in front of him, dim enough to not alert any Galra that might be around any corners. Keith leads the way.

Eventually, they arrive in the huge engineering room they've been through many times before. It seems empty, but Shiro knows better than to let his guard down. Unseen doesn't mean not there. They stick close to the walls, where there's a better chance of them finding somewhere to hide in case someone enters the room.

Shiro stops them at the desk that Pidge had always worked at in most of her free time. Stowed underneath the desk is a familiar pyramid-shaped robot. Rover. It looks completely finished now, and he wonders when she had time to complete it, but he doesn't dwell for long, the others getting antsy and urging him to hurry it up. He pulls the object Pidge had given him before they left from his pocket.

"Keith, light."

Keith approaches, shining the dim light over his hands to reveal a tiny memory card. Shiro removes a panel from the bottom of the mechanism, sliding the card into a similarly sized notch and hoping for the best. Pidge had never even told them what Rover is supposed to do, let alone how to get him to turn on. All he can do is trust that he isn't wasting precious time on something that won't be of any help, though he highly doubts Pidge would create something useless.

After he slips the panel back into place, the robot powers on, a bright light shining from a circular hole on the front that resembles an eye, followed by a series of beeps that echo throughout the room.

"Shit."

"Shiro!" Keith whisper yells at him when the sound of heavy footsteps comes from down the hall.

Shiro grabs the hovering machine that may have just gotten them killed to smother the light, instinctively telling it to shut up. He counts himself lucky that Rover actually listens, both because it was giving away their position and because his friends would find him even crazier for talking to a robot that already might have jeopardized plan A.

Plan B? Kill as many Galra as possible without dying.

They rush through a side door just in time. A group of sentries rounds the corner, blasters ready to fire at any sort of movement. Shiro gets the feeling the mindless machines are the type to shoot first, ask questions later.

This feeling is soon confirmed when a shot hits the wall directly behind them. Down the hall, one they've never had the chance to go down before, stands a lone sentry, blaster aimed directly at Shiro.

Lance wastes no time in wrenching the blaster from its grasp, using the sentry's own weapon against it, pulling the trigger and hitting the thing dead on.

"When'd you learn how to shoot?" Keith whispers.

"Just now." Lance responds with the same level of amazement.

"Lets go before more get here."

They're in unfamiliar territory now, making their way through hallways they haven't had any reason to go in before now. The lack of vision isn't much help. Shiro thinks back to the night of Halloween, a similar situation, yet so different at the same time. This time, he could quite possibly lose his life. He uses his telekinesis as some sort of sixth sense, feeling for the walls with his mind in order to keep from bumping into them. He can barely feel all the sentries roaming throughout the nearby halls.

Eventually they pass through a corridor that Shiro almost doesn't recognize in the dark. He stops just at the corner when he hears a rhythmic clanging sound maybe fifteen feet away. Holding up a hand to signal to the others to stop, he risks a peek around the corner.

Standing at the door to Sam Holt's office is a Galran at least two feet taller than Shiro is. He has big, fluffy ears, not unlike a cats, and what little skin you can see underneath his coat of purple fur, is also a shade of purple. But what really catches his eye is his metal arm, reminding Shiro of his own, but the similarities stop there. This arm is bulky, built to use as a weapon rather than a hand. A pulsing, purple glow emanates from the end of it, a cannon just waiting to be used.

The Galran directs a team of four sentries, currently trying to cut and bash their way through the solid metal door. They don't seem to be having any luck, which only makes the Galra overseeing their work growl in frustration.

"They want information," Shiro mumbles mostly to himself underneath the sound of sawing and clanging that only serves to give him a headache. He should've known that Sam Holt would have stored his research on his computer, but the Galra beat him to it. Now it's only a matter of time before they get in there and figure out whatever it was that Sam knew of the Alteans and use it against them.

They need to get there first.

"We need to split up. Lance, Keith, you think you can get our chests?" The two look at each other with determined smirks on their faces before giving Shiro a nod, "Great. Hunk. We need to get in that office before the Galra do. If I buy you some time, you think you can get in there and grab the hard drive?"

"Definitely."

Shiro and Hunk wait for Lance and Keith to sneak away. The plan is for Shiro to go in first, causing a big enough distraction to lead the group away from the door to give Hunk enough time to get in and out. The sentries shouldn't be a problem. It's the actual Galra that Shiro's worried about.

The more he thinks about it the more he wants to turn around and run in the other direction. So he stops thinking. He releases a breath before rounding the corner in a sprint. He rips the tools from the sentries limbs, focusing on the glowing purple saw and driving it straight through the heads of two sentries. He let's go of Rover, who he was still clutching against his abdomen. The distraction Rover would cause doesn't matter now. He wants to be seen.

The Galra growls again, aiming his arm cannon and shooting a blast of bright purple energy, just barely grazing past Shiro as he dodges. In the time it takes to charge up his next shot, the Galra pounces, taking Shiro to the ground. He drives his metal fist into the Galra's chin before kicking his feet up and sending his enemy tumbling over him.

This is not the place to fight. Shiro knows he has to draw them away from Sam's office if Hunk is gonna have a chance to get in there unnoticed.

Shiro brings himself to his feet, using his telekinesis to put the remaining two sentries between him and the Galran before his next shot can hit him. He drops the fried hunks of metal and runs through the hallways, away from the office and away from his dorm to buy his friends some time. Hopefully Lance and Keith are having an easier time.

He can hear a laugh coming from behind him, followed by footsteps.

The Galra doesn't seem to be in any hurry, confident in his ability to kill the Altean without much effort. Maybe too confident.

"I'm not surprised the Altean I've been chasing all these years is just as much of a coward face to face. Such a weak species. You deserved to die."

His booming voice bounces off the walls, sending shockwaves of anger through Shiro. If he hadn't had another goal, he'd be fighting, but he's not far enough away. He'll get his chance.

He turns a corner just as another blast comes from the Galra's arm. Shiro's barely even broken a sweat at this point, knowing he could run around like this for hours, but he can tell his enemy is growing bored, and Shiro decides he's just about far enough away to finally get this over with.

When he spots windows, he knows he's made it to the far east wing of the building. He'd only been here once when he'd gotten way too lost on his first day of class, only to realize the wing did not contain any classrooms, only hallways full of labs and testing rooms that once was bustling with guys in lab coats.

It's raining outside, the gray clouds offering barely any light in the powerless hall. The Galran is far enough away for Shiro to slip into the very last lab tucked into the corner of the building. He searches quietly through the cabinets for anything that might help, listening closely for the heavy footsteps getting closer and closer as the Galran blasts his energy cannon through every door he passes.

All Shiro manages to find is a scalpel in a dissecting kit. It'll have to do.

The ground shakes as another blast sounds. Close now. Just a door away.

He presses himself up against the wall, far enough away from the door to avoid the incoming blast yet close enough to attack the second the Galra walks through the hole he created.

The force of the wall getting shot to pieces nearly knocks him on his knees, but he quickly regains his balance, leaping onto one of the long counters and onto the Galran's back, driving his makeshift weapon into his eye.

He bellows, slamming Shiro back against the counter to loosen his grip before aiming his cannon at him. With only one good eye, his aim is off just enough to buy Shiro some time to get out of the way, pieces of the granite countertop scraping his face and pretty much everywhere else. After all, he'd only come in a t-shirt and jeans.

Shiro finds himself a little jealous of the Galran's arm, which proves a lot more useful in battle when it shifts into a large metal claw not unlike one you'd find in a claw machine at an arcade.

His telekinesis isn't strong enough to keep it at bay for long before his arms are pinned to his sides and he's slammed onto the floor, the tiles breaking underneath him at the impact.

One appendage presses harder and harder into his neck, slowly cutting off Shiro's air flow.

"Because of you, I was demoted to waste my days on this wretched planet! For so long, I've hunted you! Finally, you will die by _my_ hand!

Just as Shiro begins to think this may be the end, a series of beeps comes from nearby. He can only catch a short glimpse, as his position doesn't allow for much maneuverability, but the little robot that zooms past his line of vision is undoubtedly Rover, although he's sure the Galra could simply swat it away his with flesh hand.

Or maybe he doesn't give Pidge's creation enough credit.

Yes, the Galran swats at Rover like it's a fly, but the robot quickly dodges, a green light scanning over the metal claw holding Shiro to the ground. A couple seconds pass after the light disappears, enough time for the Galran to laugh.

"So this is your rescue? Pathetic. Prepare to -" He's interrupted by a sharp puff of air and the sound of metal working. The claw loosens it's grip around him and Shiro quickly takes in a breath of air, coughing and choking in an attempt to catch his breath.

The metal claw retracts back into the base of the arm before powering down completely. Rover had shut it off. He reminds himself to thank the robot later.

The Galran screams in rage, pressing a button on his shoulder, "This is Commander Sendak! All cannons to the easternmost corner _now_!"

The Galran - Sendak - is going to blow the place up.

Shiro wobbles to his feet, grasping onto the farthest counter from the outside to stay upright when a boom shakes the ground. Not a second later does the opposite wall come crashing in, sending chucks of concrete and metal into Shiro's body at high speeds. Cracks spread around the floor beneath his feet, threatening to crumble, but that's the least of his worried when Sendak comes charging at him. Without the use of his arm, Shiro isn't so much overpowered as he was before, using the rubble around him as ammo for his telekinesis.

This method only seems to make Sendak angrier, and Shiro's running out of options as he's gotten backed up against the ledge where the wall used to be, now a plunging drop to the rocky desert ground outside the Garrison.

Sendak realizes this as well, using his momentum push Shiro off the edge. As he falls, Shiro reaches with his mind in a last second attempt to save himself, only managing to grasp onto the limp metal arm that is Sendak's, taking him down with him. Just before hitting the ground, he pushes himself to use his telekinesis like he never has before to slow his fall. He still lands with a hard thud, pain shooting up and down every limb, but at least he's not dead. Sendak's landing is much harder, his scream cutting off abruptly when he hits the ground. He doesn't get up.

There's no time to celebrate though, as a wave of sentries floods from the ship, followed by a huge, nasty looking creature. It's head is that of a snake, sharp fangs revealing themselves in its mouth, while it's body takes the shape of a lion of sorts, it's muscles protruding in various directions that makes it look painful to move. The creature produces a loud noise, like a mix between a roar and a hiss that sounds more like it's about to hack up a hairball than anything. Doesn't make it any less terrifying, though.

A shot catches him on the shoulder, a harsh reality check that breaks him from his trance at the two story tall creature.

More blasts come his way, but he's ready this time. His breathing is heavy and every inch of him is aching, even his prosthetic seems to pulse with some sort of energy that he's never felt before.

The rain falls hard around him, and the clouds seem to swirl above as he crushes through sentry after sentry. The wound in his shoulder burns, but that doesn't stop him from using it to send his enemies flying backwards into others.

Even Rover helps, scanning a sentry at a time and effectively shutting them down from the inside.

He begins to think he might win this. He feels an unstoppable force coursing though him alongside the pain, pushing him to keep moving forward. To keep fighting.

This all comes crashing down when the creature is released from it's binds.

He jumps out of the way of it's first swat at him, rolling until he's back on his feet in a crouching position. He knows this is a losing battle, there's no way he could take this creature on his own after already taking down at least a hundred sentries. He's exhausted and hurting, unsure of how much more he can take.

The others must have already escaped, at least he hopes they had. He'd rather they make it out safely than have to fight this thing.

A paw about the length of a van comes crashing down on top of him, and again, he's pinned. He can feel his ribs snapping and all he can do is scream, staring straight into the snake eyes of the creature over him.

A flash of lightning lights up the sky, striking the creature. It stumbles to the side, a black scorch mark directly between it's eyes.

The Earth begins to rumble beneath him, and when he lifts his head he sees a growing fissure in the ground directly beneath the giant snake-lion. It's back paw get's stuck in the hole, then the other, pawing desperately at the rock to pull itself up.

Shiro weakly lifts a hand to the sky, conjuring up what little energy he has left into another bolt of lighting, aiming it directly at the creature and sending it falling into the depths of the Earth, which closes as soon as it disappears.

Hunk runs up to him, Bae Bae transforming into a tiger and taking out a couple stray sentries that try to shoot at the two Alteans. He puts an arm around Shiro's back to help him into a sitting position. Shiro grunts at the shock of pain that runs through him, holding his ribcage tight with one arm, clenching his teeth to keep from crying out.

Keith and Lance run out one of the back doors, bleeding, but in much better shape than Shiro and holding only three chests in their arms.

The sound of a ship firing up grabs his attention, and he looks to where Sendak had fallen, only to find an empty space instead.

"He got away," Shiro says, but he can't get any louder than a whisper. Either Hunk didn't hear him or he's more concerned about other matters, but he doesn't answer.

He's lifted to his feet. He tries his hardest to walk, but Hunk ends up bearing most of his weight. He doesn't show any sign of it being all that difficult though, he always had been the strongest of them all.

"Did you -" Shiro pauses, doubling over in pain, "- the hard drive."

Although he can't seem to get through a full sentence, Hunk catches on, "Yup. The hard drive is ours."

Lance and Keith drop the chests to take out the remaining sentries that have since surrounded their van, and as Shiro watches them, he realizes what a deadly team they've become, working together so fluidly it almost looks like some sort of dance, opposites working together as one. The sentries didn't stand a chance.

He then looks to Hunk, who's shaking from the events that just unfolded, but despite this, he doesn't let his fear hold him back. He's stronger as a result.

They climb into the van, placing Shiro in the back with his head resting on Keith's lap as they drive away. He can't see out the window, he's not sure he wants to, but he can imagine the Garrison shrinking into the distance as they get farther and farther away from the place he actually started to consider his home.


	13. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge gets questioned.

Pidge doesn't sleep that night.

_What if they're dead?_

She pounds at her head as if that will help remove the intrusive thought from her brain. It doesn't, but the action gives her something else to focus on.

She stares blankly at the table, head in her hands, waiting and waiting for something, anything to give her an answer to her most pressing questions. It's hard to tell how much time passes.

Colleen tries to stay strong, keep positive, but in the passing moments where she thinks nobody's watching, Pidge has caught her in a state of doubt similar to her own.

What if, what if, what if...

There's a lot of those questions floating unspoken around the Holt household.

Pidge is sitting in her usual spot at the table, fiddling mindlessly with a loose screw from the project in front of her that she gave up on trying to finish when she realized she couldn't get her mind to focus on anything but her friends. Colleen's cell phone rings after being silent since Iverson's call that had caused Shiro, Lance, Keith, Hunk, and even Bae Bae to leave in the first place.

She's unable to catch on to what's happening from only her moms side of the conversation, so she returns to what she'd been doing before. Waiting.

It doesn't take long before her mother calls her into the living room, switching on the television, the phone still pressed to her ear. The news is on every channel, not that they'd want to watch anything but.

Footage of the Galaxy Garrison plays across the screen, an entire corner blown off the building. Pidge falls on the couch next to Colleen in shock. The next clip that plays is an overview of the hallways, covered in rubble and scorch marks lining the walls. The news anchor makes a point of focusing on the three doors in the entire Garrison that had been left open, the rooms pretty much destroyed in the fight. Shiro and Keith's room, Lance and Hunk's, and her fathers office.

Pidge and her mother watch with wide eyes as a reporter - the same one she recognizes from the party - interviews the chief of police as he states his own theory as to what went down.

_"We discovered plenty of incriminating evidence in the dorm rooms that had been affected, such as fake IDs, birth certificates, other documentation. Upon further inspection, we found out the boys had lied their way into the Galaxy Garrison on the basis of a Foreign Exchange Program, which our experts figured out had also been faked. We have reason to believe they had had some involvement with the disappearance of Samuel and Matthew Holt after finding the hard drive to his computer had been stolen as well._ "

The camera switches back to the news anchor next to four images taken of her friends, " _Witnesses are coming forth with multiple sightings of the four in many different states over the years, taking on different names and appearances. These young men between the ages of 20 to 22 have been labeled as highly dangerous terrorists and are currently being pursued. If anyone has any information as to their whereabouts, please contact your local authorities -"_

Colleen mutes the TV, returning to her phone call. Pidge can hear the person on the other line more clearly now.

"Did you try to explain to them that their theory is _wrong_?"

"Of course, I did, Colleen, but it's out of my hands. There's nothing else I can do." Iverson sounds defeated, something she never thought she'd hear from the headstrong man. The two hadn't always gotten along, maybe because Pidge is too stubborn for her own good and Iverson likes to be in control. But at least now she understands the reasoning behind his secrecy. He'd only been following her fathers wishes.

It was also probably pretty annoying to find Pidge snooping on his computer more times than one.

"Well, do you know where they went?"

"Unfortunately, no. They fled as soon as they could, I assume, which is probably for the best, _everyone's_ keeping an eye out for them. Let us know if there's anything we can do for you and Katie."

Before she can respond, the doorbell rings. The two share a confused glance.

Pidge opens the front door to reveal a police officer.

"Katie Holt?"

"Yeah?"

"We're gonna need to bring you in for some questioning on behalf of your connection to Takashi Shirogane, Lance McClain, Hunk Garrett, and Keith Kogane."

Pidge narrows her eyes, "Am I in trouble?"

He returns her stare, "Not yet."

"Mom?"

Colleen appears behind her daughter, phone still in hand.

"Mitch, I'm gonna have to call you back."

* * *

Pidge finds herself in the bustling police station, waiting for whoever the head detective on the supposed 'terrorist case' may be. If she knows one thing for sure, it's that she's not telling these people _anything_.

After a while, between rounds of the little game she created consisting of holding staring contests with various policemen until they get uncomfortable for her own amusement, a door slams open.

She recognizes Rolo immediately, marching angrily away from the officer who tries her hardest to usher him in the right direction.

"Hold on just a moment while we get everything sorted out and then you're free to go," she informs him, disappearing around a corner.

He plops down in the seat next to her with a huff, crossing his arms, "You believe in any of this terrorist shit?"

Pidge scoffs, "No. It's complete bullshit. They just need someone to blame."

He nods in agreement. She wants to ask him about the questions they might have lined up for her, but another woman exits the same room Rolo had.

She's tall and thin, standing with her shoulders back and chin high, radiating an aura of dominance. Her brown hair is cut past her shoulders, her skin a beautiful shade of brown that reminds her of Lance. A pair of rectangular glasses sits perched on the bridge of her nose.

"Katie Holt. We're ready for you." Her voice holds a commanding tone, matching her demeanor perfectly. She's touch, Pidge can tell.

But Pidge is tougher.

Rolo gives her a mock salute as she retreats into the questioning room, which her returns with a playful smirk. She remembers not long ago when Rolo had been her worst enemy, and she almost laughs at the naivety.

The questioning room is nothing more than a plain white table with a chair on either side and a camera in the top left corner, pointed to capture the room in it's entirety. If only Rover were here, who she'd designed to hack into systems remotely and control them from the inside. She hopes Shiro had found him, and that he came to be of some assistance. She'd spent many late nights working on the robot, her primary goal being to hack into Iverson's computer from the outside and download whatever info she can. Now that she doesn't need to anymore, maybe Rover could come in handy in more situations than she'd originally thought.

Pidge takes a seat on the far side of the table, away from the door, while the woman sits across from her, straightening up the papers in her hands with a tap to the surface.

"I'm detective Serrano, but you can just call me Veronica. Thank you for coming in on such short notice, Katie. We're in the midst of something potentially dangerous, and it's imperative you answer our questions with one hundred percent honesty. I trust you can do that for us?"

Pidge nods, not saying anything.

Veronica seems satisfied by this, opening up the manila folder on top of the stack in front of her. She slides four photos across the smooth surface of the table, the same photos she'd seen of her friends on the news not that long ago. Their smiling faces stare up at her, taunting her. She looks back to Veronica instead.

"You're friends with these four, correct?"

"Yes."

"How long ago would you say you met them?"

Pidge shrugs, "I don't know, late September, early October? The semester had already started."

Veronica nods, the answer checking out with her records, "And were you aware that they had gotten into the Galaxy Garrison under false pretenses?"

"Not until a couple hours ago."

"Do you have any idea as to why these four would be motivated to murder your father and brother?"

Pidge's perks up at this, "Are you serious? They have nothing to do with that?"

"Are you saying you know who did?"

"No -"

"Then how can you be sure?"

"I don't -"

"Unfortunately, the security cameras were down at the time of the bombing of the Garrison, so we are unable to know exactly what went down. But there were three rooms that had taken notable damage. The state of the boys' dorm rooms, your fathers missing hard drive, and a gigantic hole in the Garrison's East wing. There's too much evidence for this to just be a coincidence, Miss Holt. Did they tell you anything that could be of use to us during the time you were friends?"

Pidge shutters at her use of the word 'were', as if they are no longer around.

"No."

"I'm sorry. This must be a lot for you to take in while you're still grieving. Would you like a minute?" Her words are sympathetic, but her tone is stone cold. She doesn't care about Pidge's mental state, all she wants is answers that Pidge isn't willing to give.

"I'm fine."

Veronica clears her throat, "Very well." She reaches across the table to push the photos out of the way and replaces them with a tablet, "Would you mind taking a look at this?"

Playing on a loop is a pixelated, low quality video, probably taken from a phone in a pair of extremely shaky hands. The video is only a couple seconds, but plays over and over again. On the right is the side of a house, smoke rising from somewhere along the roof, at first, there's nothing out of the ordinary. Just a burning house facing off into the dead of night, unintelligible voices screaming in the background. Then she sees it. A figure balancing on the edge of a window. The person taking the video is too far away to be able to tell clearly who it is, and who he's holding, but Pidge knows. She keeps her face blank as the figure leaps, farther than should be possible, and disappears behind some trees. The clip ends and starts over.

She watches it no more than three times, lifting her eyes to meet Veronica's expectant ones.

"What are you showing me?"

"This is from the night of the house fire. Multiple witnesses report that you had been the last one left in the building, and that Takashi had gone back in to rescue you. Is this true?"

"Yes."

"Now here's where things get a little fuzzy. Many of our accounts state that you had been upstairs, but your statement, as well as Takashi's state that he had found you downstairs."

"He did."

"Then what of the scream heard from the second story?"

"I don't know! Everyone there was drunk out of their minds! I wouldn't be surprised if someone told you they saw a damn unicorn start the fire!"

"Then explain the video," Veronica says, leaning forward on her elbows.

"Looks like a bird to me."

The detective slams her hand down on the table. Pidge jumps involuntarily, but she quickly returns to her stone-faced attitude.

"I think you know damn well that's not a bird jumping out that window."

"Maybe a weird angle then?"

Veronica laughs harshly, "I know you're not stupid, Katie. I've read about you. Top of your classes, graduating your sophomore year and getting accepted into the esteemed Galaxy Garrison at only sixteen years old. Quite the genius you are. Do you really want to throw that bright future away to protect a couple of terrorists?"

"I don't know anything."

Veronica sighs. She's smart. Pidge will give her that. She knows that Pidge is hiding something, despite her best efforts to show her otherwise.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but you leave me no choice. So let's make a deal. You tell me what I want to know, and I won't have you arrested for trespassing in Garrison restricted areas and attempting to steal private information."

Pidge can't help it, her eyes widen at the threat. Iverson was angry at her, yes, but he wouldn't have given her up to get her arrested? Would he? No. There had be be some other way.

"How do you know about that?"

Veronica smirks, "I have my ways."

Pidge glares at her, "I said it once, I'll say it again. I don't know anything."

Again, Veronica sighs, as it she's actually disappointed to have to detain her. She stands, pulling a pair of handcuffs from her waistband.

"Katie Holt, you're under arrest for the various crimes committed at the Galaxy Garrison. You have the right to remain silent and anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law. You also have the right to an attorney -"

Pidge tunes our the rest of Veronicas speech as she tightens the handcuffs around her wrists. She doesn't struggle, not wanting to get into any more trouble than she's already in. She finds her mind wandering to Shiro and the others, wondering where they are and if they're okay. Then to her mother, who will be furious when she finds out about this, not at Pidge, but at the police for holding her. 

Rolo's still out there when they bring her out, making long eye contact with Pidge as they lead her away to a row of holding cells. All she can do is shrug in response to his questioning stare. She can hear him asking whoever is nearby what's going on as she rounds a corner.

Pidge goes willingly into the white room containing nothing more than a steel bedframe with a thin mattress and a toilet and sink on the other side. She whirls around to glare at the detective and surrounding officers as they close the heavy metal door. She gets the feeling this is a special cell, meant to hold criminals much more dangerous than her. But with what they've seen and what they don't know, they're scared of what she might do. Or maybe of what someone else might do once they find out where she is. She smirks at the thought.

Another security camera blinks at her from the ceiling. If her hands weren't handcuffed behind her back, she knows she could easily dismantle it in a minute or so. Rover could do even less.

Figuring she'd at least like to be comfortable for however long they decide to keep her here, she sits on the edge of the bed, rolling back to shimmy her arms over her butt and around her legs. It takes a couple minutes, and she's sure she looks funny to whoever is behind that camera, but eventually her arms are at her front rather than her back. She falls back onto the thin pillow.

She's there well into the night, she knows that for sure from the meal they bring her for dinner. They take her cuffs off, deeming her not threatening enough to keep her arms confined. Her mom arrives at one point, keeping her updated on whatever events are going on outside. Iverson had set her up with a lawyer. Colleen doesn't mention Shiro or the others, and Pidge doesn't ask, not wanting to accidentally provide the authorities with any more info than they already have.

Pidge assures her mother that she's fine, which is only partially a lie. She'll never admit it, but she _is_ a little shaken up at the thought of getting arrested, locked in here while her friends are somewhere out there when she should be doing something to help. The longer she sits in that cell with nothing more to do than fiddle her thumbs, the more anxious she gets. Staring contests are only fun when she can see the discomfort on her victims faces. The security camera does not make for an amusing opponent.

The noise from outside her cell gradually diminishes until all she can hear is the hum of the lights above her and the occasional footsteps making their way down the hall. It must be late, a majority of the workers going home for the night. Nobody's visited her cell since her mom left however many hours ago.

She's lying flat on the floor, swirling her legs around in the air and thinking about how she would've worn something other than a pair of jeans if she knew how the day was going to unfold. The laces from her boots circle around, getting tangled in each other before she pulls them apart and starts over. Again, she must look crazy to the guy watching her through the camera, but she doesn't care. Let them think whatever they will. She'll be out of here soon.

What she doesn't expect is _how_ soon.

An explosion rumbles the building around her. She shoots up into a seated position on the floor.

_Shiro_?

She's too excited at the thought of her friends coming to get her that she completely forgets to be logical. It's not like she's in any real danger, and breaking into a police station would be foolish. She'd managed to avoid admitting her knowledge of her friends thus far. There would be no getting out of it this time.

A series of footsteps sprint down the hallway in the direction of the commotion, although after what she's seen, whether Altean or Galra or otherwise, there's no beating whatever caused that explosion. Not with the equipment they have.

The walls shake again, a couple pebbles falling loose from the ceiling above.

She hears a pair of light footsteps coming from the opposite direction of the outburst, unlike the heavy sound of the officers boots stomping against the floor that she'd grown accustomed to. They stop just in front of her cell door, and she finds herself instinctively scooting backwards into the opposite wall, looking for something she could use as a weapon but coming up empty handed.

Her door swings open, only nobody enters. All she can see is the door to the cell across from her. Suddenly, the camera in the corner crumples up like it's only made of paper before being ripped from the ceiling and falling to the ground, leaving a mess of wires in its place. Pidge jumps when the door swings shut again, as if there's a ghost.

But it's not a ghost, Pidge is sure of that. She's seen her friends pick up objects with their minds, create earthquakes, make it snow, and light up a dark room with only his hands.

No, this isn't a ghost. There's someone else in this room.

Pidge does her best to put on a brave face, "Who's there?" She doesn't bother to worry about her volume as another explosion, smaller this time goes off. The officers won't be coming back for a while.

A woman appears from thin air, crouched in front of her.

She's stunning, really. Not a single blemish can be found on her dark skin, which contrasts beautifully with her silky white hair that's pulled into a bun on top of her head. Her eyes are an electric blue, like the galaxies in the universe reside there. Beneath those eyes are light pink markings in the shape of arrow heads that seem to glow in the flickering lights overhead.

The woman holds out her hand. Without thinking, Pidge takes it, wondering only afterwards why in the world she'd been so quick to trust her. Maybe it's the way she possesses powers, something she'd only seen so far from her Altean friends. Or maybe it's the way her white hair reminds Pidge of Shiro.

She yanks Pidge up from her position on the floor effortlessly. She's tall, fit, pretty much the embodiment of all the female beauty standards Pidge had seen in magazines and on TV. It's intimidating, but Pidge decides to worry about that later.

"We don't have much time, we need to go." The energy this woman gives off is not unlike Veronica's. Powerful and in control. But Veronica had instantly triggered Pidge's fight or flight reaction, the confidence of this stranger on the other hand only make's Pidge feel safer.

"Who are you?" Pidge asks the woman who still holds tightly onto her hand as she peeks around the door to make sure the coast is clear.

She looks back at the shorter girl with a smile, "I'm Allura. Watch your step."

Allura disappears and when Pidge can no longer see her own hands and feet, she realizes that she had gone invisible herself. She trips over her own two feet as Allura tugs her along through the empty hallways, guiding her towards the entrance and straight into the midst of chaos.

Everywhere she looks there's at least two police officers running about, unsure of what to make of the strange explosions without a perpetrator to catch. Veronica is there too, calm and collected as ever, screaming through the phone for backup. Little does she know that before backup can get there, it will all be over, and Pidge and Allura will be gone.

Pidge accidentally bumps into one of the men running around, but she doesn't turn around to see his reaction. They make it through the front doors unnoticed, staying invisible until they're far enough down the street to be recognized by any passerby. Allura slips into an alleyway, waiting a couple seconds before turning visible again and releasing Pidge's hand. Together they walk quickly but casually down the sidewalk and into a brown pick up truck.

The truck is practically in shambles on the outside, like Allura had taken it directly from a junkyard after it had been sitting there for years. The inside, though, is a different story. The tinted windows had blocked her view of the technical dashboard that looked like it belonged on a spaceship. Definitely not on some old, piece of junk like this. Pidge finds herself drawn to the various switches and levers like a moth drawn to light, the strong urge to learn whatever she can about the machine washing over her.

Allura laughs at her amazement, breaking her out of her trance. She remembers to stay alert. Allura did help her escape from the station, but she's still a stranger. And Pidge has learned from previous experience to be extra wary of strangers. Her mom would definitely be disappointed to hear that Pidge had gotten into the truck with no questions asked.

To be fair, she _is_ a fugitive now.

But at what cost? Will this all be worth it?

"I suppose you have a lot of questions." Allura starts up the truck and pulls away. Her accent resembles a British one, but Pidge knows Allura comes from a place much farther away.

"You're Altean," Pidge says, more of a statement than a question.

Allura nods, "Yes."

"So you know the others? Coran. Shiro. Lance, Keith, and Hunk?"

She tenses when Pidge mentions Coran, "Coran was my caretaker. As for the others, I know of them, but we never got the chance to meet."

"So why are you not with them?"

"When the Galra were invading my home they - they captured me. I was very young, but I remember watching as my planet burned and my people were killed as the Galra took me to one of their ships. There, I met the Galran empress. She's very powerful. I don't remember very well, but they ran tests on me. I believe they tried to extract the quintessence from me."

"Quintessence?"

"Energy. They'd used it all up from their original planet, Daibazaal. That's why they destroyed Altea, and that's why they're here. They want to make Earth their new home." She takes a deep breath before continuing, "I don't know how long I was there, but one day I was rescued. Put on a ship and flown straight here to find the others. We've been tracking them ever since, but until now, we could never find a lead."

"Who's we?"

"The ones who rescued me are here too, that's where we're going now."

"What's the point in finding _me_? How did you know where I was?"

"One of our spies had managed to send us some files from one of the Galran ships. He'd been killed after they found out what he'd done, and we could only manage to get our hands on a small portion of the info without them tracing it back to our location. It's not much, but we came across an interrogation video of a human prisoner by the name of Samuel Holt."

Pidge gasps, heart beating faster now, "That's my dad! Do you know where he is? Is he with you?"

Disappointment sets in when Allura shakes her head sadly, "No. The only useful bit of information to us was his name, which we used to track to the Garrison. By the time we got there, the place had already been destroyed. But we did track down your mother. That was after you'd already been arrested, of course. She was skeptical at first, but eventually she told me everything she knew. We need to find Coran an the others. It's the best chance we have at defeating the Galra. I figured you would be more helpful to us not locked up in a cell."

All Pidge really wants to do is go home and see her mom, but she knows that's no longer an option. That'd be the first place the authorities would look. It's better Pidge stays far away for now, anything to at least keep her mom out of trouble.

They drive for at least another hour and a half, Pidge bombarding Allura with questions, who happily answers them. Pidge learns that Allura is not only Altean, but the princess of Altea, daughter of King Alfor, who Pidge remembers Coran mentioning befriending her parents.

When prompted, Allura delves into a story about the first time she'd learned about her invisibility, freaking out when she couldn't see her own hands. Pidge laughs at this, telling her own stories about her time with Shiro and the others, about how mad she'd been when they kept secrets from her and the time she'd gone to that house on her own and gotten tied up. It all seems so distant now, even though it hadn't even been a year.

Allura pulls into a long driveway leading up to a big house in the middle of nowhere. It looks like it used to serve as some sort of ranch, a barn in the distance, but there aren't any animals that she can see. There's even a well not too far from the house. The next neighbors are a couple miles away at least. It's the perfect place to hold an alien operation without drawing attention.

Allura turns to her with a smile, "Welcome to the Blade of Marmora headquarters."


	14. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge meets the Blade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all are enjoying this :) thank you to those who have left comments and kudos, it means a lot!!!

Pidge isn't sure what she expected to see when she walked into that house, but it certainly isn't a room full of Galra. She draws in a sharp breath, instinctively taking a step back, bumping into Allura. She just laughs, convincing her that these guys, although Galran, are on their side. They were the ones to have rescued Allura from the Galra in the first place.

Pidge tries to ease her beating heart. Allura had been living along side them for years now. If she can trust them, so can Pidge. But that raises another question.

Can Pidge really trust Allura just because she's Altean?

If a Galran can change sides, anybody can. All she can do is proceed with caution and try to get as much information as she can without giving too much of her own away.

The group calling themselves the Blade of Marmora is positioned in a circle around what should be the living room. They all stand when the girls enter.

They're even taller than Shiro, who already towered over her tiny figure. Luckily for them, the ceilings are high enough that they can even stand up to their full height. Their skin tones range from pale to dark purples, each with unique features and markings on their faces, but their eyes are all the same, no iris or pupil, just a solid yellow. Two of the five are covered head to toe in black armor with distinct glowing purple designs and hoods over their masked faces. A large weapon that Pidge isn't sure she'd even be able to lift is slung around each of their backs, ready to use in case of an emergency.

She gulps, trying her hardest to keep a straight face and hide her intimidation. She'd encountered a Galra once before when she was being held hostage, but she had only gotten a good look at his feet, which were incredibly large. She sneaks a glance around the coffee table that looks like a children's toy standing next to those guys. Yep, their feet are huge.

Allura introduces her to the Blades. First is one of the masked men, Regris. His helmet has three lights where his eyes should be, and judging from the vast differences of the others, that very well might be true. She can't help but widen her eyes at a sudden movement behind him, which she soon realizes is a thick tail. She immediately feels guilty for staring, holding out her hand for him to shake.

At first, he lurches back as if she'd pulled a gun on him. It's only until Allura explains the human custom of shaking hands when he hesitantly relaxes, putting her four fingered hand in hers and giving it a quick shake before pulling away as if she had burned him.

She smiles slightly at the thought of a tiny teenage girl like her making a huge alien with a weapon as big as her on his back nervous.

She continues onto the next armored Galra. He's the biggest in the room by far, and not just by height. His shoulders are broad and wide, and the rest of him can be described the same way. When she holds out her hand to shake, his three fingered hand engulfs her arm up to the elbow, introducing himself as Antok. He's significantly less nervous than Regris. Maybe it's because he was expecting her to hold out her hand. Maybe because he can snap her in half like she was a tooth pick.

Next is Thace, who actually smiles a little when he shakes her hand. She's surprised to see he has no tail like the others, and wonders if that's just a genetic thing among the Galra. He's definitely more humanoid than the last two, that's for sure. There's two white streaks in his hair, making him look older than the rest.

The palest one of the group, Ulaz, looks down at her with a scowl. His features are sharp and pointy. His stance is ridged, and she wonders if he's ever relaxed a single muscle in his body. He doesn't shake her hand.

Lastly is Kolivan, their leader. His white hair is braided down his back, and he's the only one with red markings on his forehead and over his eyelids. He also grins at her when she sticks her hand out, as if she were bold to even come within ten feet of the group, let alone touch them.

"It's nice to meet you, Katie. Your mother told us a lot about you."

She tilts her head to the side, furrowing her eyebrows, "How did a group of Galra come to be working against their own people?"

Ulaz lets out a low growl as Kolivan's eyes widen in shock. Before she can internally scold herself for forgetting to keep her mouth shut in front of five guys two times her size, Thace bursts into laugher. He holds his belly, doubled over trying to catch his breath. He even goes as far as to wipe a tear from his eye.

_Can Galra cry?_

She thinks it's best not to ask that question out loud.

"Brave one, isn't she?" Thace says through another round of snickers.

"Or maybe just stupid," Ulaz grunts, crossing his arms over his chest. She blushes at that, embarrassed by her inability to not say the first thing that comes to her mind.

Once he recovers from his shock, Kolivan begins to chuckle as well, "Stand down, Ulaz. The girl is only curious, and it's a fair question." He turns to her, "Actually, besides Thace, the rest of us are only half Galra, exiled for our differences. The Galra are not a forgiving race. To be born only half Galran is seen as treason. I created the Blade of Marmora as resistance group for anyone who opposes Zarkon's rule and are willing to fight against them."

"Is it only you five?"

"There's more of us spread thin across many galaxies, but only six of us are here on Earth."

"Where's the sixth?"

"Actually, we were hoping you could help with that."

At her confused look, he waves his hand in a gesture to follow him. She does, not before shooting a glance to Allura, who nods enthusiastically before trailing after him. Not ready to leave Allura's side just yet, she scurries along up the staircase and into a bedroom.

Well, what used to be a bedroom. Before her is an entire wall of monitors, something you'd never expect to see in an unassuming country home such as this. She's seen setups like this at the Garrison, but this is next level. She gapes at the otherworldly technology, grazing her fingers over complex devices she's never seen before. Kolivan and Allura give her some time to take it all in.

"Will this be suitable enough for your work?"

Pidge scoffs, but she's unable to think of a clever comment, "Are you kidding..." She says, trailing off. She plops down hard in the leather arm chair, shaking her head to get out of her trance, "What do you need me to do, exactly?"

"It's not unusual for our Blade to go off on their own, but this would be the first time this one hasn't returned. She's known for her extreme stealth, and she is a skilled fighter as well. We're worried the Galra have gotten her somehow. If this is the case, there will be records in their databases that can help us pinpoint her location, and go in for an extraction. We need you to access their databases remotely, as our spy has been recently... Removed."

"I'm sorry."

Kolivan shakes his head, "He knew of the risks. All we can do now is continue on, so his death is not in vain."

"I can do it," Pidge says, determination setting in.

"I like your confidence. If there's anything you need that might make your task easier for you, do not hesitate to ask."

She makes eye contact with the leader, "Actually, there is one thing I'd like before I begin."

"Name it."

"I'd like to see the video you have of my father."

* * *

At her request, Kolivan only nods, pulling up the video from a file on one of the many desktops in front of her. He doesn't asks if she's sure, doesn't mention it being a bad idea, and she's grateful for that. Knowing what she's about to see is hard enough. She doesn't have the energy to argue about it.

The first frame of the video was a birds eye view of her father, strapped down onto a shiny metal table. Half a dozen wires protruding from nodes stuck to his forehead and chest with tape, connected to a machine that Pidge knew couldn't mean anything good. The video was of high quality. Too high, she thought, as the fear and pain was so clear in her dads eyes she felt as if she was actually there in that moment, watching from above. The play button taunted her. With a deep breath, she pressed it.

Sam struggled against his confines, as if it wasn't the first time the Galra had put him through this and he knew exactly what was about to happen.

His hair was longer than Pidge had ever seen it before, as well as his beard. When she looked closer, she spotted a hairline crack along one of the lenses on his glasses. She wasn't eager to find out how it'd gotten there.

The Galra proceeded to enter something into the computer on a keyboard with characters she didn't recognize. Once that was finished, he looked up into the camera.

"Trial forty-two. Subject has been injected with serum to reduce ability to resist -"

"Stay out of my head!" Sam had screamed, interrupting the Galra.

The alien growled, flicking a switch that sent electricity through the metal table. Through Sam.

The agony in his tortured screams had brought a hand to Pidge's mouth, the other clutched the edge of the desk so tightly her knuckles turned white.

It had ended quickly, but that was only a warning.

"What is your name?"

Sam kept his mouth shut in defiance, but that only proved to make the Galra angrier. He turned a dial on the side of the table, do doubt increasing the frequency at which the volts were sent out. He flicked the switch again.

Sam's screams were louder this time, the torture going on for a full ten seconds before coming to a stop.

"S - Samuel Holt," he stuttered between breaths.

"Good. Now tell us everything you know of the Alteans hiding on Earth," the Galra said as he typed in a series of commands. The machine rumbled to life, putting an obvious strain on Sam. Beads of sweat formed on his skin, eyes squeezed tightly shut. It didn't take long for Pidge to realize what was going on.

The Galra are trying to steal his thoughts. Suck them right out of his brain. Pidge thought it cruel, to take such a freedom away. But it didn't matter. The Galra clearly aren't ones to worry about an invasion such as this.

Somehow, watching this was worse than watching her father get outright blasted with electricity. Sam is nothing if not strong-willed, and other than his family, there's nothing he treasures more than his knowledge. To have watched him resist so hard, only to end up broken in the end, losing his memories to the Galra, it destroyed Pidge on the inside.

But she didn't let it show.

The lights began to flicker at the overuse of power. The last thing Pidge heard before the video cut out was the sound of evil laughter coming from the Galra, and the screen went blank.

Pidge didn't cry when the video ended, like she had thought she would. Like she had wanted to.

There was no time.

Somewhere out there, her father is alive. So is her brother. She knows it.

Forty-two times her father had been forced onto that table and tortured. And that's not to mention however many more had come after that video was taken. Knowing this had only managed to bring her spark of determination to a full on forest fire, willing to go through anything in it's path to keep itself alive, to keep going.

This was exactly what Pidge needed to see.

She turned to the two behind her. Allura's expression was full of remorse. Kolivan's was like that of stone. No emotion. She directed her next words at him.

"Tell me what I need to do."

And they got to work.

Over the next couple days, Pidge finds herself growing quite fond of Kolivan and the other Blades - even Ulaz, who reminds her somewhat of Keith when they first met. Mainly for a reason she has yet to see come from anyone else she's met throughout her life, that being, they don't treat her like a child who could break under the smallest amount of pressure. Despite how easy it would be, considering her size compared to them, they don't underestimate her, or try to protect her from the harsh realities that is now her life. To them, she is an equal, an ally, and for her to be of any help to them, she can't be kept in the dark.

If she had asked Shiro or her mother to see the video, they would've tried to convince her otherwise. She doesn't blame them for this, of course. It's only because they care about her too much to see her in any sort of pain or danger. But it's not helpful to anyone, and Pidge desperately longs to be helpful.

For hours on end Pidge would do what she could in front of the many screens she has at her disposal on her own, but there are plenty of times she requires some assistance from one of the Blades. Her lack of knowledge on the Galran language puts her at quite the disadvantage when it comes to hacking into their systems, so when she isn't typing away on things she could understand, she dedicates her time to Thace, who gives her lessons.

There are times, though, when she grows tired of sitting around, and one day, during one of her breaks, she'd come across a sparring match in the backyard. She became immediately invested, sitting on the porch steps to watch the sessions whenever she had spare time. She'd observe closely, committing some of the most basic moves to memory, but that didn't seem to be enough for her.

The memories of getting taken down by the two strange men still haunt her. She'd held her own for a decent about of time, but it hadn't been enough, and every day she wishes she had been stronger. Pidge doesn't want to be a weak link, she wants to be able to protect herself so nobody has to worry about her. She may never be as good as Shiro, or Kolivan, or Allura, but she sure as hell won't let herself get taken down easily.

So, after one of their matches, she approaches Regris and Antok, and asks them to teach her. They don't laugh, like she thought maybe they would. They don't tease or make her seem like a lost cause. In fact, they happily agree to train her.

They teach her all kinds of moves, even going as far as to assign her exercises to complete every day before training. They go through drills, teaching her how to use force to take down her opponent, which is easy for them to say when they can lift hundreds of pounds with a single arm. Regris and Antok push her to use what little strength she already has and use it to her advantage, but as much as she tries, nothing seems to work.

That's where Ulaz comes in.

The grumpy half-Galra pulls her aside one day after a particularly rough practice that left her with a growing bruise to her left cheek, to which Antok had apologized profusely for, even though it was her fault for not paying close enough attention when she was supposed to duck out of the way. She wouldn't say Ulaz was necessarily nice about the advice he gave, as his tone was full of annoyance the entire time, but his tips were no less helpful.

"Antok and Regris are very skilled fighters, but what they don't realize is what works for them, will not work for you. You're too small to defeat a fully grown Galra with brute force," he began, and she almost left then, expecting him to tell her that her efforts are futile, but he doesn't. "Many Galra I've fought over the years rely solely on their strength in a fight. While that can obviously be an advantage, they are also slow and confident, which can be used to _your_ advantage. You're quick, and smart. It's all about strategy. Your best bet is getting them from behind. Stay out of their direct line of vision, and get close - that way, it'll be harder to swing at you with full force. Your speed and size are your greatest assets, they make you a harder target. Use them."

He didn't give her a chance to respond before pushing past her and disappearing into the house.

She still lost against Regris the next day, but she managed to stay standing an entire minute longer than her average time, which was a win in her book.

It's her seventh night in the house. Allura had just gotten back from a supply run, even going as far as to stop by Pidge's home to check up on Colleen before her return, and currently joins Pidge in the computer room as she types away through some Galra systems. Although she's far from fluent, Thace's teachings have definitely sped up the process.

"There's at least five officers patrolling your home, so I couldn't go inside, and I'm sure they have her phone tapped, but I managed to get a glimpse through the window."

Pidge pauses at this, "How'd she look?"

Allura sighs, "Hard to tell. There's so many people around, yet she still looks so lonely."

Right. Her husband and son are dead (according to just about everyone), her daughter is wanted for conspiring with supposed terrorists, and even her dog is MIA. No wonder she looks lonely.

Her mind wanders to Veronica, who'd been the one to interrogate her after the 'battle of the Garrison', as Pidge likes to call it. She wonders what her reaction was to find Pidge's cell empty after the series of explosions with no known culprit to catch. If she didn't think Pidge was guilty before, there's no doubt she does now.

Pidge does feel a little bad at causing her so much trouble. After all, Veronica was only doing her job.

She thinks of Shiro. And Lance and Keith and Hunk. They haven't been found, so she can only assume they have to be alive, running. She misses them. As much as Allura and the Blades have grown on her this past week, she'd give just about anything to be back with her friends. Joking around with Lance, talking conspiracies with Keith (which got a lot more interesting after she found out she'd been right about the Galra in the first place), discussing technology with Hunk... Being with Shiro in general, wrapped in his warm embrace, listening to his laugh.

Yeah. She'd give anything to talk to Shiro right about now.

A rapid beeping pulls her from her thoughts. On the computer screen to her left, the tracker she'd set up to file through the Galra's databases searching for certain keywords has found a match. Allura leans forward in her chair.

"What's going on?"

Pidge doesn't answer right away, reading through the Galran report as best she can while only being able to understand about forty percent of it. She reads it again and again, making sure her tired eyes aren't tricking her into seeing what she's seeing.

"Pidge, what did you find?" Allura asks in anticipation, shaking Pidge out of her daze.

Pidge looks to her with an excited smile, "Her," she whispers. She tries to find her voice.

"I found the missing Blade."

**Author's Note:**

> thank you very much for reading!!  
> i don't know how many parts there's gonna be but i already have a lot written and i'm not tired of it yet, so stay tuned for more :))


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